EMINUTES:  Did you open your firm together?

MELODY: No.  We were both part of Leventhal & Horwath. After it imploded in the end of 1990, I created a partnership with two other guys who were doing traditional accounting and added business management to it. Jeff and I got married, and he was a successful partner in his firm.

I had to decide what I wanted to do.  I could go work for another one of the big guys and do things their way, which was a bit repugnant to me.  It was just the old boys kind of way, and I was a new, different generation of business management.  I didn’t want to argue about what could and couldn’t be billed. I don’t want to disparage those guys but I simply chose to do business management a little different than the standard guys. The only way to make that happen was to do it my way.

EMINUTES:  You’re a wife, mother, and you run the business – can you talk some more about the “old boys way”?

MELODY: Traditionally business management was the older wiser guys who treated their entertainment clients more like they were children, and would essentially pat them on the head and say, “Don’t worry about anything, we’ll handle it all.”  And they would do so in a very competent way. 

The problem was that the clients never understood or appreciated what was being done. Sometimes the business manager was in jeopardy because they absolved the clients of responsibility, therefore making all the responsibility that of the business manager. 

And most importantly, the business manager typically charged on a percentage or on an hourly basis. I felt that neither of those worked right. We don’t like hourly and we really discourage it. You’re often being second-guessed by your client.  One month it was $2,000, the next month it was $3,800.

JEFF:  When clients are charged by the hour, they are concerned with racking up time.  They could have a problem and not want to make that phone call because they think it’ll cost a few hundred dollars, and it could be the most expensive phone call they never made.

MELODY: We don’t charge percentage fees, because the business manager is not actually acquiring income for the client, [not securing] the next movie or job the client works.  And the business manager’s workload does not increase in line with the amount income the client makes.  So if the client started out making $250,000 which suddenly went to one million dollars because their film did well, did the business manager’s responsibilities quadruple?  Not likely.

And we’re the person on their team who’s responsible for saying what is the best deal.  It felt hypocritical to me to assert that we were entitled to a five percent. Those were old style ways. A lot of them are still going on. But we don’t do it that way in this firm. 

A difficult issue is that it’s important to balance being a mom with having a career. I have been grateful to see the new generations of clients appreciate it. I’m passionate about my career.  I love what I do and yeah, the clients call me at home.  My daughter rolls her eyes and says, “Which one is it this time?”  But it takes five or ten minutes, and then life goes back to what it is. She’s been coming to the office since she was–

JEFF: Six weeks old.

MELODY: Yeah. It allows me to bounce in and out.  I go to everything she does.  We relocated our offices from Century City. It was becoming a two-hour commute, the time had to come from somewhere, and I didn’t want it coming from her. I’m very conscious about leaving that Blackberry alone. 

JEFF:  When Melody started her own firm, there weren’t many business managers that were women.

EMINUTES:  It seems to me it was a very male dominated field.

JEFF and MELODY:  Yes it was.

MELODY: When I was at Leventhal being groomed for partner, I would go to management meetings. Out of 100 people, there would only be a handful of women.  And they’d be happy there were that many women. It was surprising. I’m homegrown from my dad’s construction / manufacturing company where you learn to swear like the truck driver just so they’ll listen to you because you’re this little punk girl.  Most women capped out at staff accountants.  They would maybe get to a senior level, and then they would stop. 

JEFF:  They’d go home, get married, have babies, and pursue something else because this was a fulltime career.  Firms were unwilling to accept someone working on a part-time basis or coming back after the baby.

MELODY:  But it’s getting better.  I’m really happy about that.

JEFF:  It’s very much better.

EMINUTES:  What’s a typical day in your life?

MELODY:  The most typical part of the day is that it’s not typical. Not at our level. You walk in with an agenda of what you really need to happen, and you’re just appreciative if a fraction of it happens.  The emails and phone calls of every client’s life and their agenda for the day becomes my agenda for the day.  It can be anything from a client with an employee problem that sends us off on a research mission with labor lawyers; to the buying of an exotic car that I know nothing about, and how I’ll accomplish that at a reasonable price; to a client who wants to start a new business or investment; or has a problem because they can’t live with their wife anymore.  God knows what’s going drop in your lap when you walk in the door.

For bookkeepers, it’s routine. They have their responsibilities that happen day in and day out.  Invariably in a day I’ll approve checks and look at deposits and see normal flows.  But mostly I have no idea what the day will bring.

JEFF:  I have three piles on my desk: things I have to do today, things I have to do this week and the third pile is things I have to get to.  By the time I get to the third pile, it’s usually gone because it just didn’t get its importance.  Sometimes I don’t get to the “today” pile because I’ll get an email or phone call from a client.

MELODY: The “have to’s” happen at night and on the weekends because they have to.

EMINUTES:  So you work on the weekends?

MELODY AND JEFF:  Yes.

EMINUTES:  This is probably a misconception about your job – that you have a normal weekend.

MELODY:  Right.  It’s one of those 24/7 jobs.  Because even if client’s aren’t calling, we’re thinking about their issues. We’re working out possibilities, solutions, and ideas. We’re running their lives, so we never leave it. 

JEFF:  I think the most common misconception about our job is that all we do is write checks and pay bills. 

MELODY:  And do tax returns. And the depth of what a true business manager does is significantly greater. 

One of the problems in our industry is that a lot of people feel it’s as simple as paying bills and doing tax returns, and any firm can do it.  So they’ll just hire a bookkeeper.  I don’t mean to disparage them, but it’s a true undermining of the value of a business manager. 

One of the great benefits of working in business before I walked into the generics of accounting, was I understood the diversification that comes with business and the problem solving techniques needed.  A business manager is very much a generalist. Sometimes a client calls to ask about something, and we start to spew accurate, competent information and we’re surprised that we knew that.  Where in the heck did we learn that? Well, over the years our clients have sent many research projects our way, so we built an enormous vat of knowledge. And knowing enough to know that you don’t know is important.  Often you need to find another team that’s going to help solve problems.  The client typically starts with us.

EMINUTES:  So whether a client wants to buy an antique car or get divorced, they typically call you first?

MELODY:  They tend to.  And then we start to bring in the team as necessary.  We’ll tell them if they need to talk to a lawyer because we’re not lawyers, we not registered investment advisors, we’re not insurance brokers. If the client has his own his own board of directors, we will sit on that board and add members to that team that help run that business.  That information comes from us.

JEFF:  We’re the 411 for their lives.

EMINUTES:  You are the 411, and sometimes you will forward the call?

MELODY:  Yes, but we don’t just forward and disconnect.  We stay involved.  So when our clients meet with their investment advisors, we meet with them.  If they’re getting a divorce, we’ll frequently meet with their lawyers.  We’re always in the middle of all this.  We know everything going on.

 EMINUTES:  Do you have any advice for an entrepreneur starting a business?

JEFF:  When starting a business, you have to know what you want to do.  You have to have passion for it, and have the ability to finance it, and have the back-up.  Look at other people who have dealt with the same products or services.  Find out what the market is.

I would say that our business is helping clients in three ways.  One, making sure our clients [actually receive all of the money they are entitled to]. Two, making sure they keep their money by effective tax planning and watching their budgets.  And the third part is making their money grow.  When I handled the rock groups, we used to say to them, “You’re going to sell a million albums, you’re going to make a million dollars.  How much money do you think you’ll get from the record company?”  And the answer would be, “A million dollars.”  Well, it isn’t.  The answer is you’re not going to make any money on that because of all the costs that are attributable.  We get them to understand their business and understand their lifestyle.

EMINUTES:  So you’re often the bearer of bad news.

JEFF:  Very often. Or the bearer of advice that clients don’t want to hear.

MELODY: Even more so, I think we’re their conscience.  You’re your own worst enemy when you’re listening to your conscience. You say, “I know I’m not supposed to do that.”  We’re that person in their mind.  They know from working with us what we think. Unquestionably it’s our job.  We’re on their side and they know it. Every client has a different agenda, so our agenda is different.  We have no straight platform that says this is the way it’s going to be.

EMINUTES:  You’re rooting for them.

MELODY:  Absolutely. We lose sleep over them.  We’re passionate about them.

JEFF:  Our job is to be the Vice President of finance for our client’s lives, which includes not only their business life but their personal life, as well.  If they want to buy a house, they have questions: “How much can I afford? Where do I get insurance? Financing? A broker?” We take care of all of those things, leading them to the correct places.

EMINUTES:  So you make a lot of referrals?

MELODY:  We do. We’re a good source for referrals.  We end up having that leverage which the clients win by.  There are business managers out there who take fees from these things.  We do not do that in any manner.  So we have a great amount of power to use because of our influence with our clients when it comes to the deals that they get on their cars, or the rates that they lend. We go straight to a source when we deal with mortgage refinancing; we don’t use brokers.  Some business managers do because it’s easy to just hand it over to a broker, but we don’t. Because our clients are not paying the brokers, the rates we get are great.  So our clients win. We might buy and sell more houses than the average realtor out there. The same thing with mortgages. Our investment advisors are scared to screw up on a client, because it’s not that client. It’s the entire relationship, which is a whole lot bigger than any one of those clients. So we’re a great resource, and we’re constantly being hounded (smiling).

EMINUTES:: We generally have to talk them down from a two million dollar house to a million and a quarter house.  We deal with the brokers up front saying, “Look, this is what they can afford so don’t go show them the two million dollar house.”

EMINUTES:  Because you’ll be watching!

JEFF:  I’ll be watching!

EMINUTES:  Let’s talk a little bit about your background.

MELODY:  My background is in private business.  I started working in my father’s business when I was in high school.  I filled in for a bookkeeper and learned how to do payroll. I ended up working for the next eight years within his organization.  He was a self-made guy. He started with furniture manufacturing eventually worked in developing. I got a phenomenal education working with him.  I went through school with the intention of being a lawyer but I fell in love with business.

I ended up in an accounting firm in business management, because I had such a good ability to deal with many different kinds of jobs at one time. I was an overqualified bookkeeper.

I was given opportunities and mentored partly by that man (points to husband Jeff) and went back to UCLA, took the accounting courses that I needed and strengthened my academic background.  I eventually left and started my own practice.

JEFF: I started out as a traditional accountant and worked in the tax department as an auditor for what is now BDO Seidman. Then I went to a small firm in Beverly Hills.  That firm grew and one partner was up to his ears.  He just couldn’t handle any more and I was getting tired of the accounting side of the business. So I got involved in business management in 1974.  I started out in the music business.  My first client was Electric Light Orchestra.

EMINUTES:  Did anyone give you great advice over the course of your career?

MELODY: My dad was great with advice. The first and most important thing he ever said was that you should never worry about the money. Just do what you love the money will come. That’s what constructing this business has been about for me.  There have been times I haven’t loved this business because I marched to somebody else’s tune. It was disturbing.  The more I made this business something I loved, the more successful we got.  Our employees are phenomenal. We take priority in taking care of them.

EMINUTES:  I’d like to talk to you both about your first job and your worst job.

MELODY: My first job was at Robinson’s Department Store. When you’re 16 years old, you’re pretty nervous and insecure, and you’re selling to people.  You got a temp job at Christmas and you made it last. I learned that I was a people pleaser. I really liked helping and talking to them.

JEFF:  My first job was working for my father when I was maybe 10 or 12 years old.  He owned a Five-and-Ten in Van Nuys. And he had a post office – one of these substations. I used to help run it. It was when the discounts stores were starting, and his advice to me was to treat the customers well. He said, “Let’s remember Mrs. Jones, her children’s names, and ask how they’re doing.” An indoctrination into dealing with people and sales.  My worst job — I was a landscaper’s assistant for about two days.  I had to transplant a bunch of seedlings into little pots and by the second day they all died. So I have a black thumb.

MELODY: My worst job an auditing job. Oh god, it was brutal. Very monotonous.

EMINUTES:  Jeff and Melody, you work together in the business but you have your own sets of clients?

JEFF:  Yes.

EMINUTES:  You have a joint set of standards regarding your goals and the quality of your business.  But when you make a decision as to how you want to execute on your business plan, how does that happen?

JEFF:  She does it.

MELODY: (laughing) I do it.  Jeff and I are very different. In style, he is a manager.  In my world, I am the planner.  I’m the one that’s concerned about technology and changes and rules and growth. Thankfully, Jeff is amazingly easygoing. So I pretty much walk in and tell him what we’re doing (laughs). Jeff’s always been that business manager who didn’t want to be the partner in charge of an office. He just wants to run his practice and do his thing.  So he does.

We take for granted each other’s level of integrity and ethics.  They are identical. We’re husband and wife.  There are never any issues there.  There’s never concern about how something should be handled.  It’s a non-issue for us.  I remember when I had other partners and I wanted to fire a client because I felt that they were ultimately going to be detrimental to us as a firm, I would have to battle with those partners because of the desire for the fees on their part. There was reluctance to give me credibility.  A true benefit of the marriage is that this doesn’t come up between us.  I don’t even ask Jeff about firing a client if I feel it needs to be done.  And if he needs to fire a client, he needs to fire a client.

Short of that, the rest of the responsibility of running the practice is really on me.  I come from that entrepreneurial background and it’s something that I love.

EMINUTES:  Would you say knowing when to fire a client is one of the toughest lessons you’ve had to learn in your career?

MELODY:  Yeah, that’s probably the hardest thing.  The great worry is that you wait too long.

JEFF:  We don’t want to have a client who gets into trouble complaining about his problems at a cocktail party. And somebody says, “Don’t you have a business manager?” and he’ll say, “It’s Jeff Geibelson or Melody Young.”  And they’ll say, “Well didn’t they do anything for you?” And it’s really the client. We can guide them, counsel them, try and pull them back.  But when they’re going over the edge, you can’t control it.  And that affects us. Because ultimately it’s the client’s money, and the client can do what they want.

MELODY: If we feel like they’re not listening, then we don’t want to have that client.  We also don’t want that client to be abusive and damage our relationships with our employees.  But we’re so invested with our clients, so we are always hopeful that we can turn them around by saying the right thing.  Marlo Thomas wrote this great book, The Right Words at the Right Time (www.rightwordsbooks.com). Maybe you heard something ten other times, but somebody says it at the right time and boom — it’s life-changing for you.  I’m always hoping that I’ll find those words and affect that client.  

Also there can be employees that you had for years and really like, but there are little problems you hope to correct.  God forbid you don’t and they make a mistake that costs you the firm.  That’s a big issue.

JEFF:  I have a lot of older clients who have been through their professional career, and they’re living off of the assets.  One of my jobs has been counseling these clients to pull back on their lifestyle and take a look at what they’re spending. I’ll say, “If you keep going at this rate, you’ll only have X number of years before you’re going to run out of money and that’s too early.  So you may have to sell the big house or you may have to get rid of the three house servants.”

MELODY:  Hopefully that conversation doesn’t have to happen.  I have a lot of young clients who we try to protect from getting to that place.

Henry Root is a life-long, self-confessed “music junkie”.  He realized at a young age that his future ambition was to have a role in bringing music into other people’s lives.  Hard work, long hours, and his unending passion for the music and television industries have made Henry Root one of the best known entertainment attorneys. Henry has been continuously employed since undertaking his first paid job at the age of 15, managing a high school cover band named “Evil Seed”.  From that early start, he went on to produce concerts in arenas, stadiums and amphitheatres during his college and law school career. In doing so, Henry built up both practical hands-on and business experience in the industry he has always been passionate about.

eMinutes:  How did you get started in the music business?

Henry Root:  At the age of 15, Eric Bazilian, a classmate of mine (a member then of “Evil Seed”), became my best friend and remains my best friend today. Eric is best known for having written the song, “If God Were One of Us,” popularized by Joan Osborne. He also founded the group the “Hooters”. I “managed” his band as well as two others during my senior high school years.

eMinutes:  Did you continue managing bands in college?

Henry Root: No. But having been inspired by Abbie Hoffman’s “Steal This Book”, I wrote concert and record reviews for the school paper while I attended the University of Denver so I could get free records ahead of their scheduled release. I also was elected to chair the University’s “program’s board” booking and promoting concerts on campus.  In doing so, I met Bill Graham’s “mid-west partner”, Barry Fey, and was hired by Barry to produce concerts he promoted at the Denver Coliseum, Mile High Stadium, and to stage-manage his summer concert series at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

eMinutes:  Did you continue in the music industry in law school?

Henry Root: I applied to law school because I didn’t know what to do having earned a degree with a double major in Political Science and Sociology. I was having fun producing concerts, and law school was almost a second thought. When I was admitted, I was actually planning a career as a concert producer. I requested that they defer my admission for a year, but when I was told “no”, and that I’d have to re-apply and start the process all over, I decided to attend.

I attended law school for two years, while first continuing to work for Barry Fey and then starting my own concert production company, Terra Firma Productions. My first client was Jay Marciano, who now runs Madison Square Garden Entertainment. After two years of law school, I decided I enjoyed concert production more so I took a leave of absence and went on the road for five years as a tour manager and lighting designer.

eMinutes:  So how did you come to decide to resume your legal studies?

Henry Root:  I ended up touring with the opening act on a Van Halen tour in 1979, and decided I didn’t want to sleep on a tour bus anymore. It came to mind that maybe I could become a music attorney. So I applied to be readmitted to the University of Denver, College of Law and was accepted.  I travelled regularly to Los Angeles, seeking summer internship opportunities and was fortunate to find one in business affairs at MCA Records.  At the end of that summer, MCA hired me as a law clerk and I finished my third year studies in Los Angeles at Loyola Law School’s evening school.

eMinutes:  You worked the whole time you went to law school?

Henry Root:  Yes. I worked full time in the business affairs department at MCA Records during the days and headed off to night classes after the work day ended. Just before graduation, I was hired by MCA to replace a departing attorney.  So luckily for me, I had a job in the business and legal affairs department before I even took the bar exam.  Thankfully I passed the California bar exam on my first attempt.  I remained at MCA for about five years.

eMinutes:  And after you left?

Henry Root: I worked for a couple other attorneys for a brief period and then settled down here at the beach in Santa Monica with my own practice, where I have been for over 20 years. However, I have just started a new firm up the street with three other friends as partners and we’re about to move offices.

The new offices will be three blocks North of here, at 1299 Ocean Avenue. The new firm name is Lapidus, Root, Franklin and Sacharow, LLP.

My senior associate of 13 years, Lynn Quarterman, will come with me.  Lynn was first exposed to the entertainment industry through her position as a broadcast journalist at Detroit area talk radio station, WQBH-AM wherein she served as an “on air” news reporter and eventually News Director and Public Service Announcement Director. As a young attorney she worked in the litigation department of the entertainment law firm of Slaff, Mosk & Rudman in Los Angeles, CA where she worked on the credit attribution case relating to the motion picture “Sex, Lies & Videotapes”. She has spent time in Washington, DC working for the Media Access Project (“MAP”), a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the first amendment rights of the public in the telecommunication, cable and broadcast television industries where she worked on issues such as the effect of indecency laws on cable television programming and the scope of  the “equal time” access rule in federal elections for presentation before the Federal Communications Commission in the course of its rulemaking procedures.

All four of the partners have backgrounds in the music industry, but have developed sub-specialties in various related practice areas within that industry (mine being in television production and talent in television series).

I first met Greg Lapidus when he was Executive Vice President and General Counsel and head of Geffen’s Business & Legal Affairs Department. Greg advises clients with respect to intellectual property matters related to the entertainment industry with a focus on music industry issues and has represented numerous divisions of the Universal Music Group, Disney’s Buena Vista Music Group, Apple iTunes, MTV/VH-1, NBC, Univision and Starbucks.  He has also represented, among other public service organizations, The Special Olympics, and the (RED) organization, co-founded by Bobby Shriver and Bono.

I initially met Darryl Franklin when he was a senior business and legal affairs executive for the Interscope, Geffen and A&M Records label group of Universal Music.  Darryl has twenty years of experience working in areas of media, technology and sports.  Prior to coming to the United States, Mr. Franklin was based in London where he served as Head of Business Affairs at EastWest Records (part of the Warner Music Group), then at Polydor Records and following that at Mercury Records. When Universal purchased Polygram in 1999 Darryl relocated to the U.S. to work at Universal.

I’ve known Jeff Sacharow since before he was Vice President of Legal & Business Affairs for Windswept-Pacific Music Publishing. Jeff has been practicing law since 1985, and specializing in the music business since 1987.  Jeff has developed a specialty in the area of music publishing, specifically in the area of the purchase and sale of music publishing assets.  He has represented both buyers and sellers in a number of the largest and most sophisticated music publishing transactions over the past several years, including most recently representation of FS Media Holding Co. (Jersey) Limited in its August 2009 acquisition of the Sheryl Crow catalogue.

eMinutes:  What are you going to do with this fabulous memorabilia? [Note: Henry’ office is covered with music memorabilia he has collected over the years]

Henry Root:  I don’t know yet. We call the décor here “everything my wife won’t let in the house.” “Yes dear, I love your autographed guitars, the Fillmore posters and platinum record awards, but they look better on the walls of your office”, she says. [He laughs out loud].

eMinutes:  At a young age, do you remember feeling inspired by anyone in particular?

Henry Root:  My father, whose work ethic always appealed to me. He’s an attorney. Both of my grandfathers were attorneys. My father met my mother while both were attending the University of Pennsylvania law school.  I’m a third generation lawyer on both sides of my family. As far as I’m aware of, to this day, my mother’s father was the youngest person in the state of Pennsylvania ever to pass the bar exam. I think the practice of law was in my blood and having the wonderful opportunities I have had in the music business allowed me to pursue both interests.

eMinutes:  Were either of your parents in the music business?

Henry Root:  [Laughs] No.  None of us can play a note or even sing on key. I think having always been passionate about music, finding a career in music law was a way to balance my personal interests with family expectations.  I don’t believe I would be practicing law if it weren’t for the music business.

eMinutes:   What is it that you love about the music business?

Henry Root:  Music speaks to me. I relate to the messages of the great lyricists and respond from the heart and soul to great songwriting.  And I love that it does the same for others.

As an example, in 1975 I was fortunate to produce the Rolling Stones stadium concert in Fort Collins, Colorado with Barry Fey’s other producer, Rick Wurple.  Months of work climaxed for me when Rick and I stood together next to the speaker stacks behind the Stones while they were performing  and looked out over a sea of heads of tens of thousands of people who, at that one moment in time and space didn’t have a care, trouble, or worry in the world.  Any of their wife problems, spouse problems, job problems, children problems, money problems – were all gone from their conscience as they were immersed in the music.  Rick and I looked at each other, hugged and our eyes teared up.

I then knew for certain that if I could be some very small part of creating moments in time like that where people can focus on the music and have no worries about anything but the music that was what I want to do for the rest of my life.  I like being a very minor part of creating those moments for other people.

eMinutes:  What would you say are the common misconceptions about your job?

Henry Root: (laughs) That it’s sexy, glamorous, and exciting.  After 25 years on the law side, I’m not in the clubs watching musical acts on the Sunset Strip anymore. I’m still passionate about music and love what I do, but it’s much more of an occupation now than an avocation.

eMinutes:  Do you have any advice for a young lawyers starting out? Possibly someone who is of counsel for a firm but wants to go on his or her own?

Henry Root:  Just keep the overhead low and plan carefully. Someone said to me if you watch the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves.

eMinutes:   What was the best advice you ever got about starting your own business?

Henry Root: (laughs) Don’t.

eMinutes:  What’s the most difficult part of running your own business?

Henry Root:  Cash flow management.

eMinutes:  You can’t count on people paying you on time?

Henry Root:  Certainly being part of a firm now should help level out peaks and valleys. But people don’t always pay on time, and some clients come and go. Some go and come back years later. A significant client of several consecutive years who produced a television series sponsored by a Detroit automobile manufacturer is not a client now because of the economy. On the other hand, I just consummated a large transaction involving the sale of a prestigious music publishing catalog and earned a significant fee. Sometimes it can be feast or famine.  The hardest part is making that a continuum, maintaining a balance, and having a staff that depends on me to keep it running. It’s a big responsibility.

eMinutes:  When you are hiring someone, aside from a great resume, what’s something you look for in a candidate?

Henry Root:  The single most important thing I look for is self-starting capability. Somebody that doesn’t need my constant oversight. I was very fortunate in how I was trained. My original boss at MCA records, then general counsel Bill Straw, said to me one day, “I hired you because I trust you and your skills.  If something looks wrong, it probably is and you should come to me discuss it. Otherwise, have fun.”  So I was given an immense amount of responsibility while I was only a 3^rd year law student. They weren’t used to having people working at 6:30 in the morning.  They’d have to kick me out of the building at 10 PM.

eMinutes:  You chose to go in at 6:30 am?

Henry Root:  Yeah!  I was a kid in a candy store! I mean all the files were there and I could read them all.  So when I look for people [to hire], I look for those who have the same motivation, drive and ambition.  I look for people who are passionate, committed, have a “damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead” attitude, good judgment and great self-starting skills.

My background is in production. Approximately, fifty percent of my practice is in internet, television, and variety music special production work – often with performances by multiple artists. So you’ve got to get ten people on stage performing with all the rights cleared at the same point in time. That’s a massive amount of legal rights assemblage and risk management. That’s not, from a legal perspective, a lot different than me getting 175 people on five tour buses and three semis daily on an across the country tour as I used to do. I’m just juggling a different set of things to make sure the train leaves and arrives on time.

eMinutes:  How do you budget your time?

Henry Root:  With great difficulty.  I try and balance work with family, volunteerism and personal health.

eMinutes:  What’s a typical day in your life?

Henry Root:  I roll in here about eight-thirty AM after dropping my son off at the bus and hitting the gym. Coffee, check emails and faxes. Then look at my to-do list and start crossing stuff off.  I usually get out around seven PM.

eMinutes:  That’s a long day.

Henry Root:  Yes, it is.

eMinutes: Would you say the write-up on Daily Candy changed everything for you?

Erica Tucker: Absolutely! That was my very first piece of big press!

eMinutes: That’s a really good first piece of press.

Erica Tucker: It put me on the map, 100 percent. The day that went up I just sat on the floor next to the window in my apartment where I got the best reception on my phone taking orders. Citysearch and Yelp called.

eMinutes: Citysearch and Yelp called you?

Erica Tucker: Yes! I took a meeting with them and figured out the best kind of profile for me to have and now I’m on their web sites.

eMinutes: And they found you because of Daily Candy?

Erica Tucker: Yeah.

eMinutes: How did Daily Candy find you?

Erica Tucker: Daily Candy found me because of me. I absolutely stalked them until they would let me drop off samples.

eMinutes: So you called, “Hi, I’m Erica, you have to try my cupcakes”?

Erica Tucker: I had two friends that sort of worked in conjunction with Daily Candy, and they tried for me but I never heard a thing. It wasn’t until I wrote the emails myself to the Los Angeles editor every two weeks until she emailed me back and finally said, “Sure, drop off samples.”

I dropped off samples and I never heard back. I made a cake that had the Daily Candy logo on it and everything. And then a week later I got an email on a Thursday saying, “Hey, we’re posting about you tomorrow.” The post went up less than 24 hours later.

eMinutes: And how many orders did you take the day the post went up?

Erica Tucker: Oh, I think I took around between 30 and 40. Usually we take between 3 and 8 a day.

eMinutes: And you got all the orders out?

Erica Tucker: Yeah. They weren’t all same day orders. Most of them were for over the weekend, the next week, or questions about future parties. There were a lot of other things I got from Daily Candy that created continued success. For instance, I now work with KISS FM. And I did the Teen Choice Awards gift room. I did the Sunset Strip Music Festival gift room. I’m doing Jingle Balls.

eMinutes: What’s involved with that?

Erica Tucker: I’m doing their gifting suite and backstage. So I cater with cupcakes or cookies and give them out to the celebrities and take pictures with them, which generates a lot of business. I’ve gotten some things on air with Ryan Seacrest because of them, all because of this one amazing woman — Amy from KISS FM.

eMinutes: Wow. And do you find yourself giving a lot of freebies in hopes of getting more work?

Erica Tucker: That’s been a learning process for me.

eMinutes: Can you talk about that?

Erica Tucker: At first I was just excited by the names of things, Teen Choice Awards and Hollywood Weekly Magazine and all these great things that I provided anywhere from 100 to 500 cupcakes with a tower. I would personally go, so my time was involved. But a lot of times I would get nothing in return. Maybe a few emails back, and I’d meet a few people while I was there.

eMinutes: That costs a lot of money. You thought of it as an investment?

Erica Tucker: Absolutely.

eMinutes: Sometimes the freebie investment is worth it, sometimes it’s not.

Erica Tucker: Right. I wasn’t saying no to anything at first. I was just yes, yes, yes. I will do whatever I need to do to get my cupcakes in front of people.

eMinutes: And now are you a little bit more conservative with that?

Erica Tucker: Yes. I will have 500 cupcakes somewhere if I think it’s gonna be worthwhile for me. If I’ll be hitting the right kind of people. If it’s gonna be a bunch of men over the age of 30, that’s not gonna help me out so much. If it’s an event with moms or young women and children, that’s worth it.

eMinutes: So the pictures with the celebrities like Jennie Garth helped you?

Erica Tucker: Absolutely. Right now I’m my own PR. I don’t have PR taking that picture and putting my name attached to it and getting recognition.

eMinutes: So the problem is Jennie Garth could be eating that cupcake and nobody ever credits your cupcakes.

Erica Tucker: I’ve learned a lesson there. At first when I was taking these pictures, but there was no logo anywhere. Now if you look at that picture, Jennie is holding a bag that says Sweet E’s on it. I was there when that picture was taken.

eMinutes: Who took it?

Erica Tucker: A press photographer. I literally stepped in and said, “I’m sorry, can you turn that bag around?” She turned it around and now the Sweet E’s logo is in the picture.

eMinutes: Was she cool about it?

Erica Tucker: She was sweet and adorable and very, very cool about it.

eMinutes: So no PR because you can’t bring that on your team just yet?

Erica Tucker: It’s something that will happen very, very soon — probably in the next month or two. It’s just a huge expense. And I’m getting so much on my own that I think I can handle it for another month or two. I did cupcakes for Extra TV for Puff Daddy’s birthday and got that on my own.

eMinutes: And what about the social media aspect? The Facebook and Twittering – let’s discuss what you’ve decided to put your energy into and why.

Erica Tucker: That’s a huge thing, Twitter and Facebook and all these things.

I’ve just been learning that. I’m not a Twitter kind of person so I’ve had to become one. I have a Post-Its that remind me to Twitter every week or so. And I post a lot of pictures.

eMinutes: Do you take them yourself?

Erica Tucker: I do and I don’t. If we have one cool order, I’ll take it myself. If we happen to have three really fun custom orders, then I’ll have a photographer come in. And it’ll be worth it to me. If you look at the gallery on my website, a lot of work and money went into that. But I think it’s worth it.

eMinutes: What else are you doing? Are you doing Facebook?

Erica Tucker: I am. I update that a little less than I do Twitter.

eMinutes: Do you have a fan page?

Erica Tucker: It’s all connected now. I have a fan page and my personal page.

eMinutes: Any others?

Erica Tucker: I’m trying to do LinkedIn. It seems to be something people talk about. But Twitter and Facebook are pretty much the biggest ones.

eMinutes: I saw that your blog is coming soon.

Erica Tucker: I’m not a blogger-type person. I’m going to learn to become one. So it’s really just me finally writing something down and getting it up at this point.

eMinutes: Do you advertise at all?

Erica Tucker: I advertise on Google, Yelp, and City Search. I’ve done some other advertising, but I’m just learning what works and what doesn’t. I did a Val-Pack, but that did nothing for me.

eMinutes: Val-Pack gets mailed to homes. It’s not a click on the computer. But paying on Google and other online advertising helped you?

Erica Tucker: Absolutely. When you Google, “Los Angeles Cupcakes”, I come right up.

eMinutes: And that’s because you pay for that advertising?

Erica Tucker: Yeah. It makes the phone ring, so it’s worth it.

eMinutes: Sounds like you paid close attention to Google analytics. How did you make sure you would come up in a Google search for “Hollywood Cupcakes”?

Erica Tucker: It’s a huge process. My web designer coded my entire web site. So when people type in “Mardi Gras Cupcake”, even as specific as that, it’s coded somewhere, and it’s gonna come up in a Google search. Google and Yahoo, but mainly Google. We have all these keywords that I advertise with.

eMinutes: So DailyCandy.com brought you a lot of traffic because it’s online and people can go to your web site right away. Did you find it brought you more traffic than, say, being on Extra?

Erica Tucker: Absolutely. You know, the plugs are great every once in a while, but they really don’t do as wonderfully as you think they are going to. People are much more visually inclined to click.

eMinutes: Rather than hearing or seeing something on TV and then going to the computer to look it up?

Erica Tucker: Right. Most of my customers are people searching for what I do.

eMinutes: Do you have family out here with you?

Erica Tucker: I don’t. My parents are in Houston. My sister is in Chicago, and she’ll be moving to New York next year. She is getting her MBA at Kellogg right now, and she’s been handling my Google ad words for me.

eMinutes: She works with your web programmer?

Erica Tucker: Yes. She also works with Citysearch and Yelp. She does all the Google optimizing. So if I wanted to add “Holiday Cupcakes” to a keyword, she’ll add that for me. She’s really helpful and we’re working so well together, I’m hoping she joins the team. I didn’t want a partner in all this unless it was a family member to run the business part and I’ll do the creative part. I’d love to make it a family business.

eMinutes: It sounds like your family offers you a lot of support.

Erica Tucker: My parents are extremely supportive. They helped me financially. And they wouldn’t have done it unless they saw that this is something that has amazing potential.

eMinutes: Did you move to Los Angeles with the baking business in mind?

Erica Tucker: Well, opening a bakeshop has always been in the back of my mind. But I moved out to L.A. originally to be an actress. After two years of fighting the acting word, I loved acting and I really disliked auditioning. It’s not a fun process.

eMinutes: Do you think you’d ever want to go back to acting?

Erica Tucker: Well I’m gonna be on the Food Network (www.foodnetwork.com) in December. It’s either December 14 or 15, it’s a new show called “Cupcake Wars.”

eMinutes: You shot it already?

Erica Tucker: I shot it about two months ago. I had the greatest time. The Food Network is definitely somewhere I could see myself going. I want to keep my name and my face out there. So when you think of Sweet E’s, you attach my name along with it. And I would love to be able to go the hosting route with the whole food concept.

eMinutes: Have you thought about getting representation for hosting?

Erica Tucker: I’m working on that right now. I think an agent or manager would probably be a really good next step for me. Probably even before PR happens.

eMinutes: You want to tell me about your employees and your selection process?

Erica Tucker: I really value my employees. I have a really nice rapport with everyone. I want them to be happy. I treat them as if they’re family, which is kind of the Jewish way.

I chose them based on whether I think they can do the job how I would do it myself. I am such a perfectionist and I like things done my way. When customers have specific custom decorations, I do all the designing, mainly because I like to. I still want to be very involved.

eMinutes: When you started the business, did anything come up where you were like, oh, my god, I did not expect this?

Erica Tucker: Everything. It has all been a learning process for me. I don’t understand where all the money goes. I look at the monthly statements and payrolls and I’m like, oh, my goodness. And I get down on it for a second and then I pick myself up again.

eMinutes: What would you say is the most important lesson you’ve learned running this business? Did you get any fabulous advice?

Erica Tucker: I have my parents’ support emotionally, and they’re helping me finance the whole business. Many of my friends order from me for their businesses. They’ll take my stuff to parties. It’s so gratifying that my friends and family are excited about this whole business that I’ve created. It keeps me going.

eMinutes: Did you read any business books that really helped you out when you were starting?

Erica Tucker: Oh, god. Well, there was a stack of business books given to me by my father. I don’t know that I touched them. You know, there’s all these things that you can and should do, but when I’m already in the process of doing it… The orders are coming in, and I don’t have a chance to read a book. I’m figuring things out as I’m going.

eMinutes: What would you say are some of the misconceptions about your job? People think it’s glamorous, you’re so pretty, you have these adorable cupcakes.

Erica Tucker: People always say, “How fun, you’re baking cupcakes all day!” Yeah, I mean, it ‘s fun. But sometimes I’m sitting there making little ducks out of fondant. And if I have 500 cupcakes to get out the door, the fun kind of goes out the door also. It’s hard work.

People also think with all this press, I must be making bank right now. I wish I were.

I mean, I’m doing okay for having this business since May. But I’m spending extra to create the image. Every single box of mine has a pink bow on it. Someone sits there, cuts ribbon, turns them into bows and hot glue guns them to every box. So, that’s something that I could save money on but I don’t want to.

eMinutes: Where did you learn how to bake?

Erica Tucker: I grew up baking with my grandmother and my mother. I made everything from brownies and pies, to fudge and cheesecakes.

eMinutes: After you decided to start the business, what steps did you take?

Erica Tucker: For four to five months this past year, I was in the kitchen every single day refining recipes. I had hundreds of cupcakes. I’d give them to the two homeless guys across the street.

eMinutes: How did you take that and turn it into a business?

Erica Tucker: I basically just made everything my own. I realized until I have a storefront, my web site is my storefront. So I had to make it eye catching. I put a lot of money, heart, and thought into that site.

I have a college education from the University of Texas, and I consider myself a rather intelligent person. It’s so nice to be able to use my knowledge and the brain that I grew to have. I knew I had it in me to do this.

eMinutes: You must have needed a space because you couldn’t keep baking out of your apartment.

Erica Tucker: I was in a studio apartment, but I moved to a larger apartment.

eMinutes: And you were delivering the orders yourself?

Erica Tucker: At first it was just me baking, washing all the dishes, and delivering. That got really difficult.

eMinutes: So you got some help with deliveries?

Erica Tucker: Yes. I wanted them to be fun loving, happy people. They all have good working vehicles with reliable GPS. No Mapquesting.

eMinutes: I heard you start your day at 5:00 a.m. Why so early?

Erica Tucker: The baking world starts very early. When we have an order that needs to be out the door at 8:00 am, we have to start at 5:00 a.m.

eMinutes: What’s a typical day for you including business and baking? How much time do you devote to business and promotion?

Erica Tucker: It’s so difficult to foresee things. Often we get same-day orders. We’ve yet to say no – to turn down an order.

eMinutes: You’ve never turned down an order?

Erica Tucker: Never turned down an order. I will whip on the apron myself and figure it out and get those cupcakes made if need be. But on a typical day I am equally in the office, in the kitchen, and out in the world marketing and promoting. I personally go around to different stores and cafes bringing products for them to try so they might carry our items.

eMinutes: Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that you’d like to talk about?

Erica Tucker: Well, the next steps for the business. I’m hoping that we have a really busy holiday season. And I’m really hoping that being on the Food Network in December will make the phone ring off the hook.

Also today I will be sending in the paperwork for a truck — a cupcake mobile. I’m customizing the entire truck and it’s going to be a Sweet E’s Mobile that will drive around Los Angeles selling cupcakes and brownies and cookies and everything we do.

eMinutes: Do you need to have a permit for that?

Erica Tucker: Yeah. I’ll have permits in any city. We’re in Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica — you need all the different permits. It’s quite a process, so I’m just hoping that I can have it up and ready before February.

eMinutes: It’s a process

Erica Tucker: It is definitely a process.

eMinutes:  So Jeffrey, did you train as a chef?

Jeffrey Saad:  Oh yeah. First I went to hotel restaurant school at little old Iowa State. Then I finished and I went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Cooking on the Hudson was the most amazing experience ever.  I mean it was camp culinary.  We’d wake up at five in the morning, go to classes, finish at five at night, and then go to the student kitchen and just cook ALL NIGHT.  Everyone there was so passionate about food.  It was up in Poughkeepsie so there was nothing else to do anyway. We’d actually go to Long Island on the weekend – Glen Cove.  There was this Harrison Conference Center and they’d pay all of us culinary students to come down for a weekend to work and make a few bucks.

Then I went to California Culinary Academy (CCA) in San Francisco. I transferred and graduated from there. And that was a cool experience because all day long, I’d work in restaurants, Fisherman’s Wharf, bread places – and then I’d go to school. And then the schedule flipped and it was daytime classes and I would work in the restaurants at night. So the whole time I was in school, I was learning from the greatest chefs in the restaurants.  It was the best combo of practical and theoretical put together.

eMinutes:  Why did you go out to San Francisco?

Jeffrey Saad:  Well the truth is I ran out of money in New York.  I went back to Chicago and I was waiting tables at the top of the Sears tower and partying and having a blast.  But I said, “Okay, I gotta get my act together and transfer my credits.”  I went to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco– it was perfect.  It was a beautiful, old historic building in San Francisco that they turned into a cooking school. It’s a great school.  And I ended up staying there for 13 years, met Nadia [Jeff’s wife], got married, the whole thing.

After I graduated from the CCA, I went to London, and worked 20-hour days for free as a stage [intern] with Anton Mosimann.

eMinutes:  You were really working 20-hour days?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yup, literally. They expected me at 10 in the morning but I would come in at 5:30 a.m., because I wanted to work with the pastry chef.  And I learned how to make Tiramisu and breads.  And then I would go straight into service. We did a catering event for the Prince and Lady Di – this was back in 1992.  It was brilliant.

And I was always front-of-the-house.  See, I wanted to open my own restaurant, so I was always about the food.  But I never really planned to be the big chef, because I wanted to open restaurants.

eMinutes:  You wanted to be in the business of restaurants?

Jeffrey Saad:  Exactly. I love the passion of hospitality. But I’ve always loved to cook and to me, how can you open a restaurant if you don’t know how to create the menu and cook.? It’s always a disconnect, you know what I mean?

eMinutes:  So that’s why you studied cooking for all those years?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah, exactly.

eMinutes:  But it wasn’t that you were ever going to actually cook?

Jeffrey Saad:  No. I was never planning on being a chef, I just wanted to know and understand it all.  So I graduated and went to that stage, had an amazing five weeks in London, and then I had this epiphany and was like, “I just want to go back and open my own place.” 

I got on a plane, wrote a business plan, went to the guy I worked for when I was in culinary school, Billy Russel Shapiro.  Billy always said, “When you open a place, I want half.” I worked for his restaurant in San Francisco when I was in culinary school.  So I was doing 80-hour weeks.  Literally when I wasn’t in school, I was there.  Forty hours in school, 40 for him. I think I did a lot of good things for him, which is why he said he said when I was ready just to let him know.   I called Billy up and said, “You ready?”  He wrote me the check.

Everyone said, “You can’t just do that. You can’t just open a restaurant.  You need more experience first.” And I thought I would rather just learn and go for it.

eMinutes:  But how did you write a business plan? Who taught you that?

Jeffrey Saad:  I literally did it on the plane. It was a joke. It was the ten-hour business plan.  I said what I want the concept to be, what I want to achieve.  I like the hospitality part of it, so I was like,  “I want to see people three times a week. I want to see that smile on your face like when you ate that [sandwich], and I want to say, “Leyna, good to se you. I know what you’re drinking.” And you don’t get that when it’s 100 dollars a person.  So I knew I wanted it casual.

I said, “Okay, I’m not the master of anything, so what do I do?” Ironically, 20 years later, Without Borders really evolved from how I lived my whole life and had my career.  So I went to Mexico and started travelling around. I began cooking with this woman down there and became passionate about Mexican food. But I didn’t want to pretend to know authentic Mexican.  So I called it, “Sweet Heat” and it was healthy Mexican food.  The first one opened in the Marina District of San Francisco in 1993. And I got lucky.  It was right when the marina got yuppified.  It went from a bunch of old Italians after the earthquake to them fleeing [and yuppies coming.] We had a tequila garden and we were just rockin’.  Rockin’!

And I opened a second one in 1994, and a third in ’95.  I had three of them. It was all going great and lasted for six years.  And then a guy walked in the door and said, “I want to buy it.”  And I had these bottled chutneys called “Soul Man Green Chile Chutney” and “Red Chile Chutney.”  It was a popular condiment on the scallop taco that I sold.  And William Sonoma was selling it. And I was selling it out of the restaurant. And he said, “I want to buy the whole thing,” and I said, “Sold!” [laughing]

eMinutes:  Were you ready to get out of it?

Jeffrey Saad:  No, I was loving it wasn’t looking to get rid of it, but this doesn’t happen in the restaurant business. I mean, I could buy my first house, and that’s what we did. We sold it and we bought our first place in San Francisco. Nadia and I were married at that point.  [The buyer] was a guy who had a few other places in San Francisco that were really popular. But to be honest in retrospect, he was kinda lucky.  He bought these A+ locations that were already running.  And they just ran themselves. And he thought he was going to do that with mine, because they were running themselves. I mean, we were able to take Isabella (his daughter) when she was one year old to Paris and rent an apartment for five weeks.  And we were able to hang out on the streets of Paris while the restaurants were just running. Because I worked so hard when I was there.  I was always very passionate about the food. I mean I created the whole menu and I taught everybody how to cook it. But I was also very much about the numbers.  I thought you gotta have computers, gotta have food costs, gotta have targets, what gets measured gets done. Everyone had to have goals.  This was so I could go and enjoy life.  And he [the buyer] saw that.  And he would go in and ask, “Where’s Jeff?” and they’d say, “He’s on vacation.”

eMinutes:  So you must have had great management?

Jeffrey Saad:  Great management. It’s always about the people.

eMinutes:   You’re only as good as your operator.

Jeffrey Saad:  Truly. Those guys were amazing, like family.  And to this day, I still get emails and stay in touch with these managers. And I sold in ’98 and now it’s 2009, and still hear about their lives.  So he bought it, but unfortunately with months, they started going downhill. And within a year he was done and sold them off individually to restaurateurs. So that was kinda sad.  But I joined my partner Adriano who had opened this chain called Pasta Pomodoro. He had six locations and they were rockin’.  So I became an owner and joined him.  And we opened 20 of them. And now there’s 40.  There were almost 50 but now it’s starting to go back down again, unfortunately. It was a great run, but they’re not doing as well now. They were up to 50 at one point.  But when it was at its peak of greatness, I left.  Because I had my ownership and I missed my kids.  They were like one and four at the time and I wanted to put them to bed at night. I wanted to be there. I mean, this 24/7 stuff  — let’s do something different.  So eight years ago, we moved down here [Los Angeles] with no plan.  We said, “What’s next? What are we going to do?”  So I got my real estate license and I thought, “I could like this.”  It’s people, it’s service. I thought, “let’s try it.” And of course, we got lucky and the timing was perfect. It was an insane seven years of real estate sales.  But was really funny – the pinnacle for me – the moment of change, was when we sold this celebrity house.  Big sale – and we got this insane check. And I wasn’t feeling it.  I looked at my wife and I’m like, “How am I looking at a check this big and not feeling it?” I was really missing the food thing. I mean, the joke is – I was talking to clients more about, “what are you having for dinner?” than about which house they liked.  I would be like, “Nah, you’ll get the house later but you GOTTA SEAR THAT! You have to!!”  They would look at me weird, too. I mean I hate to say it but a lot of people in real estate don’t have good reputations.  They’d be like, “Yeah whatever. You’re a cook, restaurant guy – sure whatever.” But it wasn’t like they really bought into it because I was selling real estate.   So here we are eight years later doing real estate after really being in a restaurant since I was 13 years old. I mean never really being out of a restaurant. We had a seven, eight-year chapter in real estate and then we watched “The Next Food Network Star” season four. And I looked at my wife and I said, “I can do this.”  Then we had a friend sitting right where you are here from San Francisco. She used to come into my restaurants. And I’m cooking and I’m running back and forth like, “Taste this.  Look at the way the Halibut is flaking after just simmering in hat sauce for five minutes.”  She’s like, “You need to be on the Food Network. That’s it.  That’s what you’re meant to do.” And it was like this epiphany like, “Oh my God, you’re so right.” See, I always thought do a restaurant and don’t see your family, or do nothing.

eMinutes:  There was no option to become anything like a celebrity chef?!

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah!

eMinutes:  So your friend said that, okay.  But how did that translate into a tangible plan? What then?

Jeffrey Saad:  Then we started watching The Next Food Network Star (http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/jeffrey-saad/index.html), season four, and I looked at my wife, said I could do it, and that was it. I was going to be on the Food Network. So I hired this guy and we put together this whole tape of me in here cooking stuff. I sent it to them and they said, “Okay that’s great but whatever.” His actual words to me were, “You’re not a woman and you’re not famous.”  And I only got that tape in front of somebody because I knew somebody else.  Otherwise they don’t even look at things unless you have a production that’s authorized.  So, okay – since when is “No” the end? “No” is the beginning. I’m just going to forge ahead. And then Nadia got crazy on the internet watching for the auditions for season five.  And it was a year ago right now, October 2008, and it was an open call. I was like, “Okay I can cook, I can smile—I’m going!”  But then, of course…

eMinutes:  There were a lot of other people smiling?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah! Exactly. I was like “Wow.”  There was a line of like 150 people that never ended the whole time I was there – just churning them through, but the rest is history. I answered the questions. And she gave me the little slip; “This is your callback tomorrow.”  And then they called me back and they were like, “Show up tomorrow at noon with a signature dish of yours and be ready to teach something to camera.”

eMinutes:  What did you bring?

Jeffrey Saad:  Seared scallop tacos with green chili chutney, which to me, that dish to this days encapsulates everything I will ever love about food. It’s sweet but it’s hot.  There’s perfect balance.  The acidity from the vinegar, but the richness of the chilies, you know scallops to me are magical – their texture, their taste.  I just love everything about them.  So that dish has always been my dish. So I presented that. And my wife who has been everything – I’d be nothing without her.  The truest story is that behind every “X” is “X” – you know, it’s so true.  I was going to teach something really fancy.  And she’s like, “I don’t know how to cut a tomato. Just show them out to cut a tomato.” So I was like, “Okay, I’ll show them how to cut a tomato for a salad versus a pasta sauce.  And how cutting it thin is different from chunky. You know how a tomato should feel.  That’s what I did.  Then I made it past that round and the next round and the next round. And then finally I got the call and it was on Nadia’s birthday – December 10^th.
They were like, “Here’s the plane ticket.  You will be picked up at the airport.” They don’t tell you a thing.  All of a sudden, next thing I know I’m out of the car into the Food Network Studio.  Lights, camera, action – go!  They set down a basket and you have 30 minutes to cook something out of what’s in this basket.  And the whole time I’m cooking , I’m like, “Okay, you want to take the skin off the pork loin and you want to pound it down” and they’re like, “Where’d ya meet your wife?” and they’re just trying to mess with you.  “I was just waking down the street in san Francisco.” And then, “How many kids you have?” I’m like, “Two. And then you want to put it in about 350 after you sear it.” And they’re like, “What’s your favorite color?” and all this stuff!! I walked out of there – I’ll never forget – it was pouring rain. And I just walked through the rain in a daze getting soaked.  I walked from the studios in Chelsea Market to the meatpacking district.   And then that was it. They called me and said, “You made the final cut. And you’ll be out here January 15^th and it’s seven weeks of filming.” And I would miss the family dearly. That was the  most difficult part.

eMinutes:  You didn’t see them the whole time?

Jeffrey Saad:  Seven weeks, no contact. No email, no phone. Part of it is just the psychology of it.  But it’s also kind of good too, because they don’t want any outside contact. They want you having only your head and the recipes in your head and how you cook. They don’t want any influence.

eMinutes:  You didn’t speak to your wife for seven weeks?

Jeffrey Saad:  Five minutes, once a week, speaker phone, video camera. I mean, again they didn’t want to take chance that you would be telling someone, “I got cut. I didn’t get cut”—whatever.  It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I mean there was a couple of nights I literally went to bed crying.  I mean I missed my kids so much. It was surreal.

eMinutes:  Did your kids get on the phone also?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah. It was so painful.  Check this out – I got the saddest story and the funniest story. The saddest story—my son goes, “Daddy, it doesn’t sound like the Daddy-You-Daddy.”  You know, because he could sense that not only am I on speakerphone, but I am exhausted. Every time I’m talking to them I’m trying not to cry because you don’t want them to hear you cry in the five minutes you’re trying to talk. Not to mention you want to look cool in front of the camera.  And then the funniest moment – I can’t believe they didn’t air this on TV because it was so natural and so real.  We have five minutes – Go!  Isabelle says, “Daddy, I gotta tell you something about Mommy – something Mommy did.”  I’m like, “What??” Nadia says, “Don’t tell him!”  And Isabella goes, “He needs to know.  Daddy should know this!” and I’m like, “What’s going on?” They’re all looking at me like, “Jesus it’s been four weeks, what is she cheating on you already?” and Isabella goes, “MOMMY BOUGHT CANNED TOMATO SAUCE!!  For her, that was criminal.  Every Sunday I would make a batch of tomato sauce for he week and we’d use it for pasta or whatever.  We had our ritual.  But never has there been a jar or can of tomato sauce in our house. Not because I’m so above it.  But because I like to make it.  So it was really hilarious.  We were all laughing out loud. It was priceless. 

eMinutes:  So I was reading that you decided when you were 13 that this was what you wanted to do. Can you tell me a little more about that story?

Jeffrey Saad:  Right.  Literally, it was a very odd thing. I was in junior high, and I was like, “I really like food.”  I had this thing where I said, “This is not optional. You have to eat to live. I want this to be an amazing journey. Otherwise it’s just going to be sustenance.” I mean, what were you going to do? Just eat to eat? That’s depressing. So I walked down the alley behind the junior high school and I got a job at this little place called, “The Piccadilly.”  And it was right out of Mel’s Diner – Alice. Remember that?  It was that total diner.  Like bang on the bell with the spatula and the grumpy guy in the kitchen.  And the waitresses all chewing gum.   I just fell in love with it. From that moment on, I was like, “This is what I’m going to do.”  This was the coolest thing.

eMinutes:  What did your parents say?

Jeffrey Saad:  My mom cooked a lot. The joke is I thought she was a great cook and now I realize that she just cooked often.  There’s a big difference.  When I discovered green beans are actually green it was like the greatest day of my life. They were always like brown and limp. But I appreciate her because she cooked constantly.  And I became food aware.

I would see bacon on the counter that she had crumbled and I knew she was going to make her spinach salad, her hot bacon dressing. I started to identify these things.  And my sisters made fun of me. I don’t even remember half of these stories.  My sisters reminded me that I used to play this game where I would go to the spice rack and I would shut my eyes and they could get me to guess which spice was which. And then from 13, I wasn’t out of the restaurants until I was 33 and we moved here to LA.

eMinutes:  So all of your job have been in restaurants?

Jeffrey Saad:  Always. I haven’t been out of a restaurant for more than like a week for a vacation or whatever since I was 13 until this real estate chapter.

eMinutes:   And you would just wait tables?  How did you get into the kitchen?

Jeffrey Saad:  I started off always waiting tables. But I would be doing both. Every restaurant I ever worked in, the owner would laugh and tell you I insisted that I would cook a few shifts and wait tables there a few shifts.

eMinutes:  And they would let you just cook?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah. I had an in because my Godfather — you know classic traditional Godfather — helped me. So I learned to cook in the kitchen with the guys. And that was back in the Cajun days – all blackened, it was disgusting. But at the time I thought it was cool. But then quickly I had enough credentials so when I went off to school, I was able to get jobs.  My greatest cooking experience was the North Western Steakhouse in Ames, Iowa.  This crazy Greek Guy owned it. I went to undergrad near there – hotel restaurant school at Iowa State.  This guy would walk in and turn the garbage cans over in the middle of the service and he would find pats of butter and he was like, “This is my money! What are you doing?” then he would start pulling money out of his pockets and throw it on the floor and yell, “Take all my money then!” and then he would walk out.  And that was his idea of being a great leader. We would all look at each other like, “What was that scene?” But he was that classic-didn’t-know-anything-owner, and he felt like he had to make some kind of stink to make everyone aware of costs. But the chef got arrested for his third DUI, and they took him straight to prison. And the owner looked at me and was like, “Who can run this kitchen?” and I was like, “I can.”

eMinutes:  How old were you?

Jeffrey Saad:  I was a sophomore in college in hotel restaurant school.  And I said, “I’ll do it.” So I went to my teachers and I said, “You want me to learn about restaurants? I have a chance to really learn, so be flexible with me on some classes because I’m not gonna be here.” And I ran the kitchen — I ordered everything and cooked everything.

eMinutes:   So you were 21 and you were running the kitchen? Did you have problems with people respecting you because you were so young?

Jeffrey Saad:  I probably didn’t even know the difference whether they were or not.  I probably thought I was in charge and everyone was just laughing but I was into it and I loved it, you know. The classical restaurant stories, too.  Right out of Anthony Bourdain’s books – the front of house manager was a total alcoholic. I don’t think I ever saw him sober.  At ten in the morning, he’d be hammered!  He was a functioning alcoholic. He ran that restaurant. And the waitresses were cute and fun and it was like a big happy family.

eMinutes:  Anyone in your life that you found really inspiration that you looked up to?

Jeffrey Saad:  My dad died when I was very young, at six, just like my wife’s dad. So my uncle, his brother, became kind of a role model for me. He was really good to me.  He was an example of what success looks like. He had money and all of those things, but he also had a good family. And its amazing when you’re young like that, you really [notice it.]  One of my favorite quotes is, “I can’t hear what you say because who you are speaks so loudly.” You know what I mean? I think about this with my kids.  Because they’re going to watch what I do.  I could preach all day long, but it’s what they see and what goes on that they’re going to take in. And that’s how it was for my uncle.  He was a good example for me. He was someone who was inspirational. And then I just grabbed inspiration from everybody I ever met.  I always felt that way. I’ll walk away with something from you tonight. Everybody has something, if you’re open to it.  All my chef instructors, every one of them gave me something special. A lot of the restaurateurs I worked with, even the ones that were really bad, I got a lot out of them because I realized what not to do. 

eMinutes:   So since you started your restaurants, it sounds like you were just continually moving up.  Have you have any major setbacks? Aside from not speaking to your wife for seven weeks?

Jeffrey Saad:  It’s really weird – I gotta tell you my life is too perfect.  I get up every single morning and I go out and look at the view and I just thank the air. I’m so grateful for my life.  I wake up every morning so grateful, and I also wake up ready for more. I want more, you know? But I am wiling to do whatever it takes.  But so far, I decided to open a restaurant, I did. Sold ‘em, it went great. The real estate thing was amazing. Now this Food Network thing is happening. I mean I still don’t have a show or anything so there’s still a long way to go before I get where I really want.

eMinutes:  But you are the spokesperson for the American Egg Board?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yes, yes I am.  And that’s been amazing. The Farmers of America.  It’s really a cool experience. I love cooking with eggs so it’s really a natural fit. Lots of good stuff happening.

[note from eMinutes:  It was about this time I sheepishly slurped my margarita in a successful attempt for a second. The spicy, hot libation went down too smoothly, and the fresh lime juice was too good to only have one. Jeffrey happily mixed another.]

eMinutes:   What would you say are the common misconceptions about your career and your life?

Jeffrey Saad:  You know I have this little thing right now where I hate being identified as a realtor.   Because that’s how everyone knows me in LA.  And it was a very strong chapter.  And I’m not NOT proud of it. It was an amazing chapter and I will always be grateful and I enjoyed it.  But I feel like I’m so back to where I belong which is in food. Whether I become the biggest Food Network star that ever was, or I just open another restaurant, or whether I just cook for my wife every night, I just feel like I’m where I belong again.  So people will call me up and say, “Hey what do you know about the house down the street?” and I’m like, “No, I’d rather talk about food.”  You know, it’s this funny thing now. People are like, “You wouldn’t believe what happened to Jeff Saad.” And someone else will say, “You mean the real estate guy?” because, of course, that’s how everyone knows me.  I’m proud of it. I met so many amazing people and I took care of amazing people.  I just also want to be known as a food guy.

eMinutes:  Was the real estate a distraction from the food?

Jeffrey Saad:  No, because it was really what I thought I wanted at the time. I thought I was done with restaurants. Even though I got to sell my first restaurant it’s not like we got rich or anything.  It was successful in the sense that I made a few bucks. And then the next restaurants after killing myself for several years – my partner who is in San Francisco and is also my best friend – was killing himself for another 12 years, and you walk away with nothing.  So restaurants are the hardest way to make money on the planet.

eMinutes:  But you did get to take trips with your family like Paris, which is wonderful.

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah but my philosophy has always been if you can’t leave your business, they you might as well just work for somebody else.  Because what’s the point?  Even with real estate, I did that. I’d turn my phone off on Saturdays.  I’d turn it off on six o’clock Friday night, and turn it back on Sunday morning.  And my message said, “Thanks for calling. This is Jeffrey Saad. I’m off until Sunday at nine and I’ll be checking messages then.  Have a great weekend.”  I don’t care. Because then, my battery is always at 100 percent and I’m ready to rock because I take care of myself.  My daughter said to me one time, “You really love yourself, Daddy, don’t you?” I took that as a compliment because she sees me thriving on life and enjoying myself, which allows me to be a good dad and a great husband. So we’ve always taken the vacations.  I mean, we’d have like eight deals going on and I would say, “It’s just money.”  I’d give 25 percent of everything to some realtor. I’d say, “We’re off to Spain.”  Every year my wife and I would take a trip alone and a trip with the kids.  And it’s that balance that makes it all worth it to me. Because otherwise, what’s the point?  I respect everybody’s view on that, but for me I had to do that.  But I started to feel a lack of balance with the restaurants, so the real estate chapter was great.  For me, it felt part time! What, 50, 60 hours a week? Holidays, nobody wants to do real estate.  I was like, “Wow, I have holidays now!” So it was a welcome chapter and it was a great chapter. And it really wasn’t until the last three or six months that I started to feel… you know. And then of course the market changed on top of it, which made it even easier to look inside yourself. Actually we had a really good year right up through the Food Network stuff, ironically. But it was still a good reason to move on, too. Because it was dying anyway.

eMinutes:  What’s a typical day for you now?

Jeffrey Saad:  A typical day is I get up at five, five thirty every morning. I’ve always believed that that time is power.  Even when I was in real estate. I’d go to Beverly Hills at five thirty in the morning and I had three hours before anybody got there and another two hours before most of them got there, if they got there at all.  But it’s before the phone rings. I love watching the sun come up.  The day is off to a good start.  I read something inspiring, and I am ready for the day.  Even when the kids get up, I wake them up with, “Let’s go! Who wants pancakes?” because I’ve done my thing.  You know when you wake up late, you’re always two steps behind and I hate that feeling — all day you are just shy of what you wanted to have done.  By getting up early, I get it all done. So now by 10 a.m., the rest of the day is bonus. I get up five, five thirty, work out, read something, make breakfast for the kids, they get off to school. And then I always have my little post-it of the things I got to get done. Work on the cookbook proposal, which is what I am doing now.  

eMinutes:   You’re writing a cook book?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yup.  And I have a publisher who is interested in New York, hopefully, so we’ll see how it goes.  They haven’t seen the proposal yet but I’m expecting them to like it. And then I have a business plan.  It’s going to change, obviously, because I’m making it up.  But I gotta do at least three new recipes a week and document them. Because I’m used to cooking from the hip.  I have to do this in a way so somebody else can do it per my instructions and have them like it.  And then my list is I gotta make at least X amount of industry contacts a month because I’m trying to keep myself out there and meet people.  It’s funny how you start connecting the dots. It started with my asking circle of friends, “Okay, who knows who?” and then somebody knows somebody that leads to somebody else.  Anyway, so I get that stuff done, and I have lunch with my wife.  We always have a nice little lunch. Then in the afternoon, I’ll run errands. And then back to my list of things to do. But I usually finish everything I have to get done by noon… the must-do’s. Then I feel good about the rest of the day.  Now that I’m doing this, I home with the kids more, which is great. I’ll take my son to soccer practice. I cook dinner five nights a week, I cook lunch three to four days a week. We go out alone one night a week, and we take the kids out one night as a family. And that’s the general pattern. My kids are everything to me. I refuse to ever take a chance that I’m going to look back one day and say “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve.”  I want to just sweep my wife off to Europe and be retired, knowing are kids are doing well and we did the best we could do. And not have any regrets or issues and whatever I did wrong, it won’t be for lack of effort.

eMinutes:   And no real estate now?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yeah, real estate is done. I’m referring it all out. I’m getting calls all the time. Because I knocked on I don’t know how many tens of thousands of doors when I was in real estate.  See, I had a plan. I would get up every single morning and knock on doors.  When we moved up to this area from San Franciso, we knew nobody. We moved to be in a business where you’re supposed to know people, which is kind of stupid. So I knew I had to meet the people.

eMinutes:  Wait, you knocked on doors and talked to strangers?

Jeffrey Saad:  Yup. I would knock and say, “Hi, you have any interest in selling your home? I’m the local realtor. ” I would say I was the local realtor even though I just moved here.  They would say, “No, get out of here.”  But I would come back three months later and knock and they’d say, “What is your deal? But you know, funny enough we’ve been talking about it…” and boom, I sold their house.  And they would tell a friend who told a friend.

eMinutes:  What happened when you said, “Hi I’m the local realtor,” and they said, “Yeah as a matter of fact we’d like to sell”?

Jeffrey Saad:  I was like, “What am I supposed to say now?”  I was so used to rejection I didn’t know what “yes” sounds like.  It was a joke. Because I was really into the scripted dialogue. People try to make business so complicated.  Make contacts, convert the contacts by getting to know what they need, and then get it done. The rest of it is all – you send out your postcards and pretend you’re doing so much more with all of these fancy things that nobody else will read. But you just have to meet people and see what they need.  So then I had to get ready for the “Yes” and I was like, “Okay great when do you need to move by?”  And they would say, “Actually, we don’t need to move.” And then I realized okay, maybe this is just somebody I will keep in touch with. You know you find out quickly.  But I just feel so peaceful starting the next chapter.

eMinutes:  How do you put yourself out there now? You want everyone to recognize you as a chef and know who you are. You have a Facebook fan page, but what else?

Jeffrey Saad:  Facebook fan page. I have Twitter.  And I have my blog, which has been huge.   I get over 7,000 hits a month consistently on my blog.

eMinutes:  How did you start that?

Jeffrey Saad:  yYou know, I said, okay blogs are big and I should get one going.  It was also a need. I wanted to talk.  The joke was I would wake up at five o’clock in the morning and say to my wife, “What do you want for dinner?” and she was like, “Oh my freaking God.  Let’s have coffee first, please?” So I’ll sit down and talk about what I want to have for dinner in the blog.  I knew this company called “Motherhood Inc” (www.Motherhoodinc.com).   This woman started this company and they’re amazing.  It’s all these really smart women who were CEO’s, CFO’s, all creative people.  They have babies and families and didn’t want to just give up their profession but they coudn’t do it full time.  So if you need something done, she pieces it out to the right moms.  They do it from home.  They each do a piece of it. It’s very organized.  I’ll get an email from Robyn on the east coast that did this part of it. And she’ll hand it off to Sandra.  And they just set this whole blog up for me.  They asked me what I wanted it to look like, and I told them.  So now all I have to do is my typing, upload the picture, and hit “done.”  And they have the functions of it all set up. So whenever I post, it gets tied right into Facebook and Twitter.  It’s automatic.  They’re so good. I stay away from just recipes because I don’t want to just be the recipe guy. So I’ll post the way I cook.  To me, I want you to think about the way you cook. You know, read a cookbook like a story. What characters go together?  Is it pomegranate and rosemary?  “Mindtaste” the flavors and starting learning to cook with flavor combinations, techniques.  So one of the things I do in the blog now is put, “Key Flavor Factors.”   So this morning’s blog was a fall risotto. It was roasted butternut squash and brussel sprouts. But I used a little bit of Allspice so one bite is like eating Thanksgiving dinner.  So I talk about how it tastes and the flavor combinations. So I hope when you’re done reading my blog, you’re like, “Oh my God, I want to try those two flavors together.” And you don’t even need to recreate the exact recipe.  But this morning I posted the risotto recipe because I was so excited about the way it came out.  But I’ll post things that I have going on when I’m out and about. I was in San Francisco last week on a consulting job so I took a picture of this Scotch Egg.  It was amazing. Uploaded it to Flickr, hit it to Twitter. 

eMinutes:  What are you doing to promote your blog?

Jeffrey Saad:  Not much now. But that’s the beauty of the Food Network. Being on the show, I was up to 900 hits a day over the summer because the show was airing and people Googled my name. I answered every single email.  It was a full time job over the summer.

eMinutes:   Are you going to sell advertising on there?

Jeffrey Saad:  Well that’s one of the things I’m hearing about from Motherhood Inc They’re like a machine.  They’re like, “Okay write down the cook books that you’re reading right now.  Anyone that buys it, Amazon gives you a percentage of it.”

eMinutes:  Are they expensive?

Jeffrey Saad:  They’re really reasonable.  It’s amazing. They’re doing so much stuff for me.  I’m just trying to keep myself out there. Also I was the emcee for the Malibu From the Vine Food Festival.  They had a huge tent set up at Saddle Rock Ranch. And all the great chefs were there.  But I’m watching them and thinking, “Why aren’t they telling these people that the key is this?”  People need to know why you’re doing it this way and what it tastes like.

eMinutes:  You’ve always been this way? No one ever told you how to do this and adjusted your way of delivering the info, even as you became well known?

Jeffrey Saad:  No.  I probably should, but no.

eMinutes:  It’s working for you.  It’s just how you are.

Jeffrey Saad:  I just love it.  I’m a people pleaser.  All of the people in this business have some kind of disorder where we need constant affirmation. Because I like to just see you enjoy that right now.  That’s just so good for me.  I did a cook off against the top chef runner up of season four – Marcel [Vigneron]. He’s the sous chef over at Bazaar.  It was so much fun.   I’ll be doing Disneyland.   It’s a 40-day festival and each day they feature a different celebrity chef and they gave me a weekend. Guy Fietti – you know him on the Food Network with the white spiky hair? Wildly successful and he’s been so good to me. He had me down at the Anaheim food festival this summer just to say hello and keep my name out there.  And then somebody else just saw me on TV and wanted me to do the Charleston Food and Wine  festival which is kind of a big deal.  And I’ll be emceeing that. December 17^th, I’m opening for Guy Fietti at the Gibson Theatre at Universal– 5,500 people. And he’s doing a 20-city food road show. This guy’s gonna change food entertainment forever. He’s worth seeing. He’s amazing.  I’ll come out, “Hi, I’m the Spice Smuggler,” and I’ll do my thing. I get a 20 minute block.

eMinutes:  Do you rehearse?

Jeffrey Saad:  Bobby Flay asked me that on the show. He was like, “What is your plan?”  And I took it as a compliment because he seemed intrigued by the flow. I said, “You know, I never rehearse too much because I want it to be authentic. All I do is have the bullet points.  The open idea, the points and meat of it, and I want the rest to flow.

Dr. Maoshing Ni (pictured on the right) and his brother, Dr. Daoshing Ni are the founders of Tao of Wellness, a holistic medical center treating a wide variety of conditions. They took over the predecessor clinic in 1985 from their father, Master Ni, Hua-Ching, who came to the United States in 1976 as heir to an unbroken chain of 74 generations of masters dating back to the Han Dynasty. Drs. Daoshing Ni and Maoshing Ni expanded the medical center, and also founded Yo San University in Marina del Rey, a school of Traditional Chinese Medicine. They are well-published authors and manufacturers of high quality herbal products, which they distribute throughout the United States.

This is a profile of Dr. Maoshing Ni:  accomplished doctor, yet always the student.

I spoke with him about his practice as I sipped a delicious cup of his non-caloric tea, made with all natural herbs.

eMinutes:  I understand that your father was also a doctor.  What are some lessons on enterprising you’ve learned from your dad?

Dr. Ni:  Well, I’ve learned from him that you have to have clarity in what it is you want. A lot of people wish for things, but they don’t really know what they want. They have these vague ideas, “I want five million dollars” or “I want a house.”  But you have to have clarity in terms of your vision and in terms of what it is you want to accomplish. Also, hire the best people you can find and treat them well. Try to share that vision with them, have clear expectations, and empower them to help you.

I learned [these things] from my father watching him do exactly that. He really empowered people and inspired people to become the best they can.  I think that’s invaluable in business.  Because your own capabilities, while maybe tremendous, are also limited. You need good people around you to accomplish what you want.

eMinutes:  And as far as inspiring others to work with clarity, what is it you try to inspire them to achieve or work toward?

Dr. Ni:  I think the common need for humans is to do a good job and to be recognized.  And I think that’s what we try to do. I try to inspire my staff [to realize] one of the most fulfilling things they can do in their lives is to actualize their potential and to achieve their greatest end.

We are a healing organization. We dispense health services and wellness.  Everything we do — ranging from the books we write to the products we produce (such as herbal products), to the integrated medical services that we provide — are all about health and wellness. So what we do is provide those kinds of services to inspire people and help them become the best they can be in terms of their health and wellness. We try to inspire our people to do and be the best they can. So far, it’s working!

Let’s see, my brother and I took over twenty-five years ago from our father, and we’re blessed.  We have good people and good doctors.  We have seven doctors in our group. We’re doing okay.

eMinutes:  At a young age, do you remember feeling inspired by someone in particular? Maybe it was your father or possibly it was somebody else that worked a different type of job altogether? Perhaps you never wanted that job, but there was something about the way they worked that was inspirational to you?

Dr. Ni: I grew up in Taiwan. I was born and raised there and I came here as a teenager.  There were many people who were inspirational to me when I was young.

eMinutes:  Did you speak English?

Dr. Ni:  No, I didn’t speak any English at all. I came to the states and I learned English here. But I remember when I was eight or nine years old living in Taiwan, there was this guy who was a street vendor. We had these puffed rice cake treats there.  He would come to the corner of the street and he would set up his little stand and he would gather a bunch of kids around him.  He had the machine that puffed the rice up.  And then he would compress them and bind them with honey, making these puffed rice cakes.  And they were absolutely delicious.

So I would watch him come every day. He would do this.  He was methodical and he was proud of what he did. He would bring his kids sometimes and they would work with him. I remember for a year he was on that street corner.  And the next thing I knew, I would see him a few blocks down the street and he would have another little stand that belonged to him.

eMinutes:  He expanded?

Dr. Ni:  He expanded!  And I was very impressed.  After the span of a couple of years, he had something like four or five of these little stands and he would sort of be at each place for about an hour. He would rotate. And he would always have someone else be at each stand .

I remember this guy because I really liked eating what he had.  It was my favorite treat.  And I forgot about that when I moved here because I was a teenager.  And then one day, in my late 20’s, I was reading the Chinese newspaper.  It was a business daily kind of thing. I was reading, and there was a picture of this guy who looked really familiar.  I couldn’t quite place this guy.  But I knew I met this guy before or I had seen him. But where? I kept reading the story and then I realized that he was the guy that started out on the street corner making these rice puff cakes and now he owned a very large snack food company in Taiwan. A big, big company.

I just remember – wow!  This guy really inspired me in that he understood what it was the kids wanted.  He really knew his audience and what their needs were.  And he put on a show – it was like popping popcorns but this was much more complicated. Because he would puff the rice so there was an explosion when you release the pressure.  So there was a big pop. The sweet smell would waft down the street and it was irresistible to every kids and adults alike! This was a show. And then he would pour it into this pan, and he would put either honey or molasses over it. And it would cool down and it would harden, and then he would cut it. And he would do this in a very methodical way. By the time he was done, they kids were dying, salivating. And the smell – it was amazing. He knew his market, he knew what his audience wanted, he knew how to market to the right audience, and he was very successful. So I always remembered that.

eMinutes: Well that sounds like a combination of a showman – he had his skill down – but also a businessman, because he was industrious and had stands on multiple corners as he grew the business. So he was a combination.  Most people can’t ride that line. You think that’s partially due to clarity and partially due to the fact that he worked really hard?

Dr. Ni:  Oh absolutely. This guy was always there.  He was always there.  Rain or shine, he was always there.

eMinutes: So you obviously come from a medical background, but I wanted to know how you transitioned to structuring your company and expanding. As I’ve learned, you have many different corporations and interests.

Dr. Ni:  Well, I think these interests all kind of dovetail into one another.  What we’re involved  here is a family tradition that goes back generations.  And whether it’s a professional practice, or an herbal manufacturing company, it’s a business. You have to run it with sound business principles.  And so the principles we relied on were based on taoist philosophy that is the foundation for Chinese medicine. The principles are that you try to seek integration as much as you can in the related activities. So you leverage one into another.  I think that’s important.

So we started out just with the practice and we realized that herbal medicine is very much a part of what we do – integral to what we do.  But we weren’t able to control the supply nor the quality.  We had to just take what the suppliers gave us. If it was bad quality, that was all we had to work with.  So very early on, we decided we had to get to the source.

So we worked with experts to contract herb growers in China to grow some herbs for us. Going directly to the source meant that we can control the quality to ensure that they were free of heavy metals and pesticides and all of those things.  And since we were bringing them here – we were importing them– we had to, by necessity, go into the import business.  We didn’t want to—we were just doctors.  But since this was such a critical element of what we do, we had to make sure that we had the highest quality and control the supply.  So we got into importing.

Importing meant that we brought in a lot of raw materials and we decided to share some of our family formulas because the patients were asking for them.  You know they would say, “Doc, I come to see you once a week or once a month or whenever I’m sick, but in between I want to have something that I can take to maintain my energy, help me sleep, keep me calm and focused, concentrated.”  And so naturally the demand was there so we began to produce family formulas for energy, immune system, prevention, and for all kinds of needs.  So we started an herbal company.  So that kind of grew naturally.

In the mid 70’s when our father began here in America, and when we had taken over in the mid 80’s, Chinese medicine was very foreign to the American population.  Very foreign. Eastern philosophy of the Tao, of Zen, of Buddhism– was kind of beginning and people were interested but not very many people knew about it.

eMinutes:  There were more skeptical attitudes to change, I imagine.

Dr. Ni: (nodding) So the job was to educate them. So one of the ways we educated them was through books. So my father started writing books. Now he had been an author before coming here. But still, writing in English was not an easy feat. And so he wrote a bunch of books on the classics of Daoism and Eastern philosophy, and medicine, health, fitness and healing.

So when we came on board in ’85 and took over, he retired.  And we continued to write and expand on that.  And so we would introduce concepts through books and videotapes, DVDs on Tai Chi and meditation and mind/body exercise.  So the whole gamut of eastern fitness, health and mind/body healing naturally expanded into a publishing house and now we have over eighty titles.  With our herbal company, we have over 100 products. And these were activities we wanted to do just to educate people and it turned into a business.  And these were herbs that were responding to people’s needs, and it turned into a business. But our main focus is still our practice, of course.

Then back in the late 80’s, we were teaching a lot.  We were teaching and training because we realized we really can’t do this all ourselves and we needed to train some good doctors to join us.  So we decided to start a university.  On paper, starting a university sounded really good, but in practice it was really difficult. Because there was a whole accreditation process you have to go through.  It’s a nightmarish process.  But my brother and I being young and foolish and not knowing any better, we plunged right in.  So we started a university in the late 80’s, named after our grandfather, Yo San. That was a desire: to share our family’s tradition, but at the same time train doctors who can then join our practice.

And so again, that was another need that we tried to fulfill, and it turned into a whole business in itself.  Now a university is a non-profit organization so its mission and purpose is quite different. So that project has turned into not only having 150 students and an accredited graduate masters degree program  (we’re rolling out a doctorate program later this year), but we also developed free clinical services through the community and through our university. We just developed a free acupuncture program at Children’s Hospital, LA in Hollywood using acupuncture to treat kids with chronic pain.  This is the first acupuncture program of its kind in a children’s hospital in the U.S.

[We’ve been working for a long time with] Venice Family clinic and a clinic called Being Alive, an HIV clinic in West Hollywood.  [We’ve been working with] Premier Oncology, helping patients who are going through chemotherapy to stop throwing up and relieving their pain, fatigue and depression.  So as a result, we’ve developed this whole charitable outreach program that we do on an ongoing basis and we do fundraisers to support these and other new programs.  And so that’s another piece.  And so much of what we do has organically developed and evolved because we needed to do something or we were responding to the needs of our patients.

eMinutes:  And you also got involved in real estate?

Dr. Ni:  Yes – the real estate part of it was kind of a natural thing because you need a place to house your business and various things.  So again it was a response to a need.  I think in a way our business approach has been based on this clarity:  we know we want to provide the best possible health care services offering Eastern medicine.  That’s what we want to do.  As a result of that, the various needs and responses to our patients cropped up. So the school needed a place – and we acquired a place for the school. And it sort of went on and on from there.

eMinutes:  So here we are in a recession. This must have affected your patients. Yet I’d like to know if you have benefitted from the recession in any way?

Dr. Ni:  I can appreciate what people are going through. It’s a very tough time and my patients are all suffering, too. I don’t think anyone is spared that. But I think at the same time, our products division has probably benefitted because people are looking more for self-care.

eMinutes: They’re skipping the trip to the doctor?

Dr. Ni:  They may be doing that and may be looking more for self-care.  And [regarding] services care, we’re unique in that our patient population is a very devoted group of people who very much care about their health and wellness.  And they know that if they can stay calm and have energy and focus and good health, they can do better to get themselves out of the period that we are going through.  So we have a lot of proactive patients who think , “I may skimp on the fancy dinner, but I’m not going to skimp on my health.”  Because from that health comes all the productivity, the creativity, the ability to generate and regenerate.

And that’s very much the philosophy of transforming a negative situation into a positive one.  And actually during difficult times, people go back to school. So our school has also seen an uptake in enrollment. It’s an interesting observation that we have seen going on in the marketplace.

People get laid off from jobs and they decide, “I’m going to start my own business.”  They don’t want to get laid off again.

eMinutes:  Would you say there was an aspect or lesson in business that you were not prepared for and you had to learn on your own?

Dr. Ni:  (laughing) I think everything.  The truth is we had zero business training.  Zero. Lots of medical training, but zero business training. It was all the school of hard knocks, making lots of mistakes along the way and learning from your mistakes.  And we are very eager learners.  My brother and I are constantly reading and asking people for advice, so we’re always reaching out trying to increase our knowledge base.  We know that we are not the experts and we are always evolving.

eMinutes:  Always the student.

Dr. Ni:  Always the student!  We’re always the student.

eMinutes:  And as an entrepreneur, what’s one of the toughest lessons about staring a business that you have had to learn?  Along the lines of how you said no one prepared you for the difficulties you would face when starting a university.

Dr. Ni:  Yes, well that was it.  You often underestimate how long it’s going to take and how much money it’s going to cost to launch whatever it is you are trying to do.  And so the challenge is to be very realistic and manage your expectations.  Otherwise you get very frustrated and you might give up.  Because you can get stuck and you can’t seem to move forward because of a lot of obstacles. So I would say for all entrepreneurs out there who are looking to start a business, always check your expectations and be realistic and double or triple the amount of time and money that you think it will take to get something off the ground. And when you do that, you will be pleasantly surprised because things might actually turn out faster and you might be able to succeed better than your projections, but always, always do that and I think you’ll get through it much better.

eMinutes:  It sounds like you do so many things.  I’m curious what a day in your life is like. Is every day different?

Dr. Ni:  It’s very stimulating. I love patient care.  So I get up 5 am everyday and I do my exercises and my meditation, my Tai Chi. I come to work and I’m usually here at 6:30.  I see my first patient at 7 am. And it’s pretty much non-stop until about 5 pm.  And then (smiling) I go pick up my kids. I love that. I love being involved with my kids.  I pick them up from their after-school programs. And then we go home, and I help them with their homework and get them fed and showered and ready for bed and put them down. And then I get ready for what I have to do.  Of course I couldn’t do any of that without my wife!

eMinutes:  The other part of your business?

Dr. Ni:  The other part of my business. I pretty much strategize, I write.  I have several blogs. For example, I have a longevity blog on yahoo.

eMinutes:  Where else do you have blogs?

Dr. Ni:  I have the blog on Yahoo, www.AskDrMao.com, I have a blog on Lifescripts.  I’m starting a new blog on Huffington post, www.intent.com, and I’ve got new material on www.EmpowHer.com.  So I enjoy doing all that and more.

eMinutes:  How and when do you do all of that?

Dr. Ni:  I have assistants helping me with all of those things, as well. And also I write books. I’ve written 12 books… not as many as my dad.  My dad has written over 70 books.

eMinutes:  But there’s time yet.

Dr. Ni:  (laughing).  I just love to educate and teach and so in the evening when the kids are asleep, I’m thinking and working away.  And that’s when I do a lot of my thinking process as well for all of the businesses.

eMinutes:  How many kids do you have?

Dr. Ni:  I have three. They’re twelve, eleven, and eight.  My oldest one is a competitive fencer and equestrian.  She loves literature and is easy to get along with.  My middle one is quite the go-getter. The middle one always has to find a way to stand out. That’s what I have noticed in the dynamic. She is a competitive rhythmic gymnast.  She’s going to Junior Olympics this year for the second time. It is gymnastics with apparatus:  hoops, ropes, ribbons and floor routine.  It’s like Cirque de Soleil. And it’s an Olympic Sport.  It’s amazing.  So anyway, she really stands out for the middle child.  And my little one complains that he gets bossed around by his sisters but they better watch out because he is quite a good martial artist.

eMinutes: Regarding your corporations and managing them, what would you say is one of the things you dread the most?

Dr. Ni:  It’s all the darn filing and minutes and this and that. I mean these are the kinds of things that are necessary evils and you have got to do them.  And a corporation is a real entity and you’ve got to operate it like a real entity. And so I think a lot of people do not follow through with those requirements and that’s really important with the corporations. When the corporation is operated and used effectively, it is a real asset to the business.  I mean the reason why the government agencies created the corporation is so that it enables businesses to really benefit from all of the advantages of having a corporation. And I think that’s a really important thing to remember. And we certainly appreciate the advantages the corporations afford us.

eMinutes:  So your father led the way for your brother and yourself, but at what point did you decide to start your own business?  Would you say the first business that was born – aside from your medical business – was the herbs and products?

Dr. Ni:  The products, yes.  But it’s interesting, everything sort of happened all at the same time.  The university happened with the herbal company with the publishing company. The publishing had been ongoing but it expanded – it got a big boost.  It all happened in the late 80’s.

eMinutes:  Had you ever formed a corporation before that?

Dr. Ni:  No.

eMinutes:  And that’s when you had to form many corporations?

Dr. Ni:  Yes.  Yes.  (laughing) And sometimes I think my wife, who is our CFO, is overwhelmed.   She’s overwhelmed with the number of different entities we have.  Sometimes we think we should consolidate this and that and we have done some to a certain degree. But real estate, for example, you don’t want to hold multiple properties in one corporation because liability from one can sort of affect the other. So you want to put it in a separate LLC.  So with every building, you have a separate LLC.  So that’s another issue. So while forming a corporation affords you the benefit of protection and liability and so forth, it can sometimes become unwieldy if you don’t plan it carefully.

eMinutes:  What would you say are common misconceptions about your job?  Maybe from a patient’s point of view?

Dr. Ni:  you know I think when people end up here, it’s a self-selective process.  Because they probably have already explored the conventional allopathic medicine, they’ve seen their doctors, they’ve had x-rays, and they’ve had all kinds of exams and treatments.  They’re here because they didn’t get the relief they were looking for.  They’re dissatisfied with the service they received.  They’re exploring and they want to try something that works and something more naturalistic perhaps. So with that self-selective process, already they walk in and I think they are pretty right on in terms of their perception.  And perhaps I think their surprise has to do with not realizing how professional we are.  I think the perception is that since we’re “alternative”, we’d be operating out of a shack or hanging out with long hair or whatever misconceptions there are.   I think they’re often surprised, when they walk through our office, that we are set up like a doctors office and in fact, we’re more organized. We have exceptional staff who really take care of our patients.  Our patients always complain about their doctor’s office staff but they love our office staff.

As soon as they enter our lobby, the healing begins.  And then the interaction with our staff is very friendly, warm, caring and so forth. And then come the therapeutic care that we give them, and then they leave in a peaceful state. And we designed the whole experience and we ensure that it is a healing experience for them. So to answer your question, I think the misperception is that we are not going to be as professional as allopathic doctors.

eMinutes:  Have you ever worked a job that was not in the medical field?  What was your first job?

Dr. Ni:  My first job was a carpenter’s assistant as a teenager.  I had just arrived from Taiwan. And during the summer, I wanted some spending money.  And my parents are frugal people.  They had gone through two wars and they understand the value of their money. And they said, “Well you know, you go and figure that one out yourself.”  So I was able to find someone that was a student of my fathers at the time. And he was a carpenter and a contractor.  So I went to work for him scraping paint from window frames hanging out of three story buildings.

eMinutes:  Here in Los Angeles?

Dr. Ni:  Here in Los Angeles, yes.  And I did plumbing and carpentry and sometimes doing stuff that nobody wanted to do. I mean I cringe thinking about the toxic chemicals I was exposed to, because I was using paint from a sprayer without a mask.  Scraping lead paint, you’re just breathing in all those fumes and sandblasting.  You just go, “Okay I’m glad that was way in the past and hopefully I have eliminated them after the repeated detoxifications I have put myself through, and that I’m okay now.”

eMinutes:  That was your first job and your worst job?

Dr. Ni:  You know actually, it wasn’t that the work was hard. I mean it was tough, but it wasn’t the worst job.  It taught me a lot. I learned a lot about real estate. I mean if you think about real estate, if you know something about how a building is built, it really makes a big difference.  When you’re looking at a piece of property and walking through it, as opposed to relying on your contractor telling you when you’re going to buy a house – because their motivation is different than yours.  And so for you, understand how to look under the sink and behind the toilet and you know, recognize problems.  Because I knew all of the ins and outs of building and remodeling a house from those two summers I worked as a contractor’s assistant.  I learned a lot.

eMinutes:  Is there a question that no one ever asks you when you’re interviewed that you would like to talk about? Maybe something else that you would like to add?

Dr. Ni:  You know we do so many different things.  The thing is – I really enjoy being creative. I’m always thinking about how I can improve on something or how I could come up with something that solves people’s problems. Solutions.  As a result of that, we keep innovating.  Innovations are a big part of our organization. I try to push that down through the organization.  We don’t settle for the status quo.  We must constantly improve.  Even minor things, we must constantly improve.  So I think that is what I really enjoy doing, fostering an environment where everyone is constantly looking for ways to perform a task better.  I love doing stuff like that.

It starts with improving myself and then improving what we do and what kinds of products we offer people.  And then helping my employees to constantly upgrade and improve themselves.  It comes from responsibility. Because ultimately, when you have a business, you have a responsibility that you are providing an environment for the people you have involved, your associates and partners, to grow and to become the best they can be. And so you have to provide the guidance, the inspiration, the toolset, the environment for them to grow and be their best. And if they can be their best, then your company can only grow and benefit. That’s it. The success comes from taking care of your people and helping them grow, and in return you get the best performance from them.

eMinutes:  And ultimately you make your patients the happiest?

Dr. Ni:  Completely.

Peter begins by telling me he always appreciated eating at nice places with his family. Terrific food and even better service was noticed. This was one of the reasons he wanted to have his own restaurant. He had a marketing and PR background, but ultimately the luxuries he enjoyed as a youngster dining out with his family made an indelible impression on him.

eMinutes: Would you say the marketing and PR background you had, since you didn’t have a restaurant background, was helpful with the restaurant?

PG: I think so. I think all experiences are helpful. Like when people say to me, “Did you go to college or culinary school for this? Did you study accounting?” I think experiences [in general] are very helpful. So I certainly learned as a youngster because I worked through out high school and I always had summer jobs in college. I always had a very strong work ethic. So I think in any job that’s really helpful to know – that you’re going to have to put in a lot of hours and it’s difficult work. And the restaurant business is certainly that. It can be very blue collar. You know people are like, “It’s glamorous!” But there are a lot of hours.

eMinutes: It’s a show and there’s a frenetic backstage, I am sure.

PG: Yeah. Exactly. So it’s like – hey if the dishwasher doesn’t show up, you might be the dishwasher, you know. Whatever it may be.

And college certainly taught me a lot. You know I have had a lot of people work for me over the years here at Porta Via, and I’ve seen a big difference between people who have some sort of a formal education and the ones that don’t. You know, it’s not to say that the ones who do are smarter than the ones who don’t, but they seem to have an ability to be better problem solvers. So I think that having some sort of formal college education experience has given me the ability to problem solve. And when you are a business owner and entrepreneur, you just need to be able to problem solve.

eMinutes: Possibly that’s because when you are in college, you have to manage your time and meet deadlines in order to get to the next semester and stay afloat. The time management aspect of it…

PG: Yes. Maybe that’s the difference between those that have some sort of formal education and those who don’t. But I’ve always been a problem solver, and that’s helpful when you’re a manager or own a business.

eMinutes: If someone said to you, “Hey, I’d like to open a restaurant”, aside from all of the technical info you might share with them, what’s the best advice?

PG: I think expectations. Knowing that it’s not what things appear to be, you know. It’s a great lifestyle if you could succeed, but it is a lifestyle. It’s a lot of work. It’s not just a job. It’s something that you live and breathe pretty much all the time. And then if you are successful, know that we don’t work on a terribly large profit margin. It’s labor intensive. There are a lot of expenses involved. So one should know—hey, if you do make it, this is what you can expect to make.

You know because many people go into business thinking they’re going into it to make money. But you probably should go into it because you love it and have a passion for it. And if you love it and you work hard because you have a passion for it, you’ll probably end up working harder, and then maybe you’ll get lucky and get a break, make some money. But expectations are very important. They ought to have the right expectations. Speak to somebody that’s been doing it.

eMinutes: Did Porta Via have a turning point and do you recall when that was? Maybe a time it went from doing okay and making a profit, and then suddenly – BAM, now people know who you are?

PG: Well, yeah. It takes time. You know, you open a new restaurant and everybody wants to go to it and see it. The first year, it’s funny. Because the first year in the restaurant business, I don’t want to say it’s easy, but people come, you know?

eMinutes: They’re curious.

PG: Yes. They’re curious. It’s easy to get them to come the first time. But the difficult thing is building a clientele, building a team, and once you get past that, the restaurant takes on a life of its own, you know. A life that you hope is bigger than the owner, bigger than the chef, bigger than just one server. And that’s how you’re able to succeed through it all.

[Peter excuses himself for a moment to discuss with a passing customer how he might always look to improve his bagels and why this particular customer prefers bagels. It’s been the topic of conversation with a few of the customers today with whom Peter shakes hands, laughs with, and waves hello.]

PG: So that first year you hope not to make too many mistakes so they’ll want to come back. You hope they like you. A lot of it has to do with how hard you work and the genuine effort you put into it. So if you do make mistakes, because we’re all human and everyone makes mistakes, [they’ll still come back]. But you hope that the clientele is such that they want to see you succeed and that they’ll give you another chance. Like if the food took too long, there’s going to be mistakes in the first six months or what have you. So you earn their respect. I think that first three years were very challenging and fast moving and quickly evolving. And then at some point in the first three years, I think I realized, “Oh, this is the direction I want to take the restaurant”

And when you start in business, you certainly need to have a goal and know conceptually what you want, but you also have to be willing to change. Because no matter how much planning you’ve done in the past, there’s going to be mistakes and you can’t be stubborn or hardheaded not to be able to listen, if necessary. At the same time, you have to be able to have enough confidence in yourself to say, “Hey this is what I want to do” and keep on pushing forth.

But when I opened the restaurant in 1994, it was 900 square feet and I ended up expanding the restaurant in 1999. The space to the south of me became available. And at that point, I refined the concept, which was always to be a neighborhood restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and if I got more space (as I did in 1999), dinner.

eMinutes: You didn’t serve dinner before?

PG: No. Because it was very tiny – it was only 900 square feet. I had like five tables and a counter. So that’s all it was. And so I got the space to the south and that allowed me to expand the restaurant into 1500 square feet and apply for a liquor license.

eMinutes: So you weren’t even serving liquor before that?

PG: No. I didn’t have beer, wine, or liquor. I had one bathroom for the employees. I mean I didn’t even have bathroom facilities. But I was able to get space and get a liquor license so I expanded the seating. I was able to go from seating 12 people to seating 27 people.

eMinutes: WITH liquor, which is a very big difference.

PG: A very big difference! And then it became a little café. I always called it a café. And we served dinner. So we then served breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also food to-go and catering. And then more years passed. Then in 2007, the property owner to the north offered me the space. And I was able to expand the restaurant again. So I had a new dining room. And now I’m in 2,700 square feet. And I’ll be expanding into another 1,200 square feet. So I’m just in the process of doing that job.

The concept here is going to be an extension of what Porto Via represents – you know breakfast, lunch and dinner, a neighborhood restaurant that serves a wonderful organic cuisine, seasonal menu. And what we’re doing in this room to the north, is building a great bar area. So there will be a bar area that includes TVs, flat screens to watch sporting events, and we’ll have a wood burning oven in there. There will be a “Small Bites” menu that will include gourmet pizzas and organic vegetables from the wood-burning oven.

It’ll be high energy, but not a club by any stretch of the imagination. Because we’re in Beverly Hills, the clientele is 25 – 65, and we want everyone to feel comfortable. But it’s certainly a great place to go for an afternoon cocktail after work.

eMinutes: After work, if guests have a date and it goes well, then they can dine in the restaurant.

PG: Exactly. They can dine, they can have a drink or dessert in the bar area, and we’re going to expand our outdoor patio, as well.

eMinutes: Applying for permits right now, then?

PG: I am applying for permits. But the city is really great to me. I’ve been very involved with this community for a long time, they appreciate the job that I’ve done here and they’re fair.

eMinutes: Can you talk to me a little bit about forming your corporation? When did you do it and why did you do it? Was it overwhelming?

PG: Well I really didn’t know much about it. It was in 1994 and I started the company. I believe it was my accountant that told me I needed to do that. So we formed a corporation and obviously the corporation is supposed to limit my liability.

I was thinking of at one time changing it over to LLC because people talk about LLC’s. I don’t really know the difference between an LLC and an INC. [From what I understand] attorneys supposedly love LLCs more than INCs, generally speaking. Maybe that’s only some attorneys. I don’t have any partners here, and an INC works well and my accountant said I should keep it that way. And I guess you end up paying more money on an LLC because I guess you pay taxes on your gross sales. I’m not so sure about all of that.

eMinutes: Was there anyone that you remember being an inspiration to you from years ago? Maybe the person didn’t work in your field. Maybe it was a boss at your first job, even if it was a carwash. Have you watched someone and said, “Yes. I like the way that person works.”

PG: Well, my parents. My dad was an auctioneer and a liquidator and my mom owned a retail-clothing store in Beverly Hills. So I guess I learned from them. They were my inspiration because I would spend a lot of time with both of my parents. My mom’s store was open for 30 years or so in Beverly Hills. So as a kids, we would go and fold sweaters. So I learned about sales and customer service through my parents. My dad being an auctioneer and my mom having a retail store… I learned from them.

eMinutes: Sounds like they had a solid work ethic.

PG: Yeah, they always worked. Always involved us in their work.

eMinutes: What was your first job?

PG: (smiling) My first job was working at Gelson’s market, Century City. It was the supermarket.

eMinutes: So you worked in high school?

PG: I lied and told the manager I was sixteen. I think I was like fifteen and a half. So I got a job as a bagger and it was great. Back then they had baggers. Since I grew up in Beverly Hills and my mom owned a store in Beverly Hills, I knew everybody and they knew me. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was just a great job because I would see all these parents that I knew and they would treat me really well. And I would help them out with their groceries and they would tip me. I always had a couple bucks in my pocket. So that was a great job.

And I would meet people that were older—college kids, you know. So I think it was just great exposure. I think that working in high school is really cool.

eMinutes: I agree.

PG: Right?

eMinutes: Absolutely. Why did you work? Did your parents make you get a job or did you get it because you wanted to?

PG: I don’t know. I worked because that’s what we did. Yeah, I worked there and at this other place – it was a great concept from so many years ago. I think it was Johnson’s Yogurt or something. It was a yogurt shop and this was probably around 1982 or something like that. It was a longtime ago. And obviously now we have Pinkberry and stuff, but this was…

eMinutes: Ahead of its time?

PG: Yes. This owner served yogurt and really wonderful tuna sandwiches, and really healthy breads and things like that. And it was kinda cool for a time like that, because it was a health food restaurant.

eMinutes: And what do you recall was your worst job?

PG: I had so many jobs. I mean I worked in a bookstore – I can’t remember.
I don’t think I ever had a worst job. I don’t remember ever being mistreated.

eMinutes: Back to Porta Via. I understand you do a lot of the purchasing hands on, from the picking of the fruit to the meat and such. But also you run the floor and you are busy in the back-of-house. How do you structure your day? How do you balance your time?

PG: It’s interesting because I opened a bar in West Hollywood in 2002 and I sold it in 2007. But in any event, what happened was when I opened the new business, I was forced to become a better manager, and that was a big part of my learning experience on how to manage time. Because I was between two places, I had to learn to trust other people and learn to communicate with my employees better. So that’s been helpful. So now learning from that, I have a pretty good schedule.

I get here roughly at nine o’clock. I take my kids to school in the morning. And I spend the mornings in the office doing some work, generally speaking. And in the afternoon I’m here on the floor for the lunch rush. And then in the afternoons I take meetings: staff meetings, meetings with my chef, the manager. And then the evenings, usually I’m here on the floor. I mean you try to be on the floor during those times. During the breakfast hours, I can pop in but I don’t necessarily have to be so hands on. But during the lunch hour I try to be. And during the dinner hour.

eMinutes: Looking back over your career, with the other bar you owned and with Porto Via, what would you say was one of your biggest setbacks?

PG: One of the biggest setbacks was around 2002 or so. The city of Beverly Hills was remodeling the streets and they had a whole urban development plan for the streetlights and the trees, you know. So in short, the entire sidewalk was under construction for like eight months.

So you couldn’t get to the restaurant. I mean, you could get there, but this restaurant is a real outdoor kind of place. And what makes it so much fun is seeing all the people walking up and down the street. So that was a pretty dark period. Sales went down like 70 percent or something. I can’t remember exactly, but it was pretty awful. I was not having a good time.

eMinutes: There was nothing you could do about that?

PG: Nothing I could do about it. It wasn’t anything that I did or the staff did. It was that the city needed to do this work and we still had to pay rent. I mean the landlord still had to pay his mortgage. So there was nothing anybody could do. So that was very difficult.

eMinutes: Did anything good come out of that?

Well, they enlarged the sidewalks. So at the end of the day, is it better? Um, it’s okay. I might have chosen different streetlights and different trees.

eMinutes: But as far as structuring and the back-of-house work – were you able to use that time that you would have normally spent with lunch and dinner rushes to work in those areas?

PG: Well we certainly needed the revenue, so that wasn’t helpful. But you know, it did cause me to do [some things] – because business was so difficult and our revenues dropped tremendously. So during those six or eight months, when business is difficult, you end up having to sharpen your pencil and get sharper. So it did cause me to make some difficult decisions in running the business.

It caused me to look at my staff and to be more objective. Sometimes I can be a loyal person to a fault. That’s just my personality. I like to keep people around and I get comfortable with them. So I ended up making some very good strategic decisions because business was difficult. So that was good.

eMinutes: What are some of the more difficult aspects of running the business for you specifically? I mean for me, it would be staying organized. Not lack of ideas, but organization.

PG: Okay. Well then in that case, organization is difficult. However, I hired somebody recently in January of 2008 to help me in the office and she’s been tremendously helpful. Because when you have your own business, you have to be organized, no matter how good you may be at selling. So I looked at myself closely over the last ten years and saw what am I good at, what I need help with, you know. So I hired a woman that is very organized.

I’m not very big on titles, but if she had a title it would be “Operations Manager.” She assists me in book keeping, communication, human resources, and stuff like that. And another thing that’s been difficult for me is the accounting. It’s very hard. Getting the right bookkeepers to do it, and doing it properly, you know?

eMinutes: Staying on top of P & L reports …

PG: Yes! Or even just getting the reports done and the reports being accurate! So I did hire a very good accountant about a year ago that’s been very helpful. So you have to be careful when you’re an entrepreneur to hire the right people to do that. It’s difficult to do yourself. You can’t spend all that time.

eMinutes: But they are an extension of you. Because you can’t be here 24 hours.

PG: Right. You have to get the right people to do it and you have to do it right.

[Peter greets at least the tenth person to walk by]
LW: Wow. You are like the mayor around here.

PG: (smiling) Well you have all of this great clientele. We have these terrific people that come in every day.

eMinutes: I wonder if there are any benefits in this recession? Have you found any upside at all?

PG: No. Not at all. Because if people don’t have a job, they’re not spending money. They’re not shopping or eating out as much. We’re very lucky here at the restaurant because we have been in business a long time and we have a great clientele so they’re still having business lunches. Dinner business has been the most challenging meal, period.

eMinutes: I wonder if that’s because during the day, lunch is a necessity whereas at night, you make a choice to go out to dinner.

PG: Yes. And we’re in Beverly Hills. Most of these people still have jobs. So if you’re a lawyer or an agent, or a doctor or a real estate professional, you might not be making as much money as you were making last year or the year before and such, but at least you’re still showing up to work and you’re going to a restaurant because you may be meeting a client for lunch or you’re meeting a friend. So our lunch meal period has really done very well. We haven’t seen a dip in that. We have seen a dip in our dinner business. Thankfully we’re in Beverly Hills where our clientele is – well the dip isn’t as bad as it’s been in other areas. Our business is down six percent in sales from the same periods last year.

eMinutes: That’s not that bad.

PG: No, it’s not. So that does make me feel good, you know. When the space to the north of me became available, I thought, “Wow this may not be a great time to be expanding and spending the money to remodel this place.”

eMinutes: Well, on the bright side you could remodel for less money right now.

PG: That’s true. There are some perks. Hopefully by next year things will be on a rebound.

eMinutes: Any advice that you wish someone gave you about structuring your company or about opening a restaurant that you didn’t get?

PG: I jut wish that I had a better accountant when I started my business. And a better bookkeeper. I wish I had chosen better professionals.

eMinutes: But these are things you didn’t even know until you had the better accountant, right?

PG: Right. I didn’t know. When I first started I did it myself and I learned. But then I trusted somebody else to do it and it wasn’t done properly. And so in hindsight, the next time around, it would be (focusing on) gathering those key personnel, which is very important. It really is. You see your business better, and then you can make better decisions, you know?

eMinutes: I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. What don’t you sweat that you think other restaurant owners might? And what do you sweat? Aside from this vile recession…

PG: Well, again I’m 14 years in the business, so I don’t get too worked up over the recession. I get nervous but you’re constantly nervous anyway.

eMinutes: But you’ve been through this.

PG: We’ve been through difficult times. We’re hopeful that things are going to turn around. But you have battles every day in life and you have to fight the battles you need to fight and let the others go.

For example if a customer comes in and doesn’t like what they were served, I tell my employees don’t take it personally. Just find out if they want something else. We want them to walk away happy. It’s no big deal, you know? We just want people to have a good experience. Especially now because we are in a recession and things are difficult for all of us.

And people sometimes come in here and beat us up. So I just remind my staff that we don’t have to go home with any of these people. We just have to do the very best job that we can do and be kind to them and hopefully they’ll walk away with a good experience. Because that’s what you want. It’s difficult out here now. We need everyone to walk away having a good experience. You know, liking the waiter, liking the busboy.

eMinutes: Because your staff is an extension of you in the front-of-house when you’re not here, what is it you try to instill in them? Aside from requesting good customer service, and that sort of thing.

PG: Well since I spend so much time here, I think I set the tone of the restaurant, which is we’re here to do a job and we’re lucky that people are coming in here now. We’re lucky they’re coming back. We’re lucky that we still have a job here. It doesn’t matter if you’re the dishwasher, or the hostess, or the waiters, or me– the owner. So I try to instill in them this place includes all of us. We’re a family here and we need to work as a family.

I try to remind my staff– Hey guys, keep focused. Let’s be on top of the restaurant. Make sure it’s clean and organized and we’re prepared so people walk away having a good experience.

eMinutes: And that’s just attention to detail, which it seems you picked up having nice dinners out with your family in your early years. Noticing you like the music at certain levels, or the lights at a particular brightness, etc.

PG: Yeah I see everything. As a matter of fact, yesterday there was an older gentleman here having dinner with his wife. I’ve seen him in here several times. And he came up to me. And I don’t really know him but I’ve seen him a lot. And he said how much he enjoys when he comes in the restaurant, how good the services is, and how much he enjoys it here. The food is always consistent and that he sees that I’m always looking around, helping the waiters out, and have a watchful eye and he appreciates that. He brought it to my attention that it’s good to see.

eMinutes: That’s a great compliment.

PG: Actually I got two of those compliments yesterday! But for me, it’s my job. I don’t have an ego. When people say that, it’s my job.

eMinutes: It’s nice for them to notice it, though.

PG: It’s our job. That’s what I tell all the people who work here. We work in a restaurant. We have to do that. It’s our job to help customers. I’m not the type of owner who’s going to be in the corner booth just hanging out. I will rarely ever have a meal during the meal period because that’s the time we’re working.

eMinutes: When do you close?

PG: We close at 10.